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“The low exclamation, the slight start, were hardly seen and heard 
before the tomahawk of Chingachgook descended on the shaven head of 
his foe .” — The Pathfinder, page 56. 


THE PATHFINDER 


OR, 

THE INLAND SEA- 



J.'^ENIMORE COOPER. 


■ — Here the heart 
•fay give a useful lesson to the head 
And Learning vdser grow without his bockB. 

-Comma, 


NEW YORK . 

THE AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 

39 AND 41 Chambers Street. 



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486555 

AUG 1 4 1942 . 



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TROW'S 

PWNXmOAND BOOKBINDING 
NEW YOBK. 




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PREFACE 


Following the order of events, this book should be the 
third in the Series of the Leather-Stocking Tales. In “ The 
Dearslayer,” Natty Bumppo, under the which forms the 

title of that work, is represented as a youth, just commencing 
his forest career as a warrior ; having for several years been a 
hunter so celebrated as already to have gained the honorable 
appellation he then bore. In “ The Last of the Mohicans ” he 
appears as Hawk-eye, and is present at the death of young 
Uncas ; while in this tale he reappears in the same war of ’56, 
in company with his Mohican friend, still in the vigor of man- 
hood, and young enough to feel that master-passion to which 
all conditions of men, and tempers, and, we might almost say, 
all ages, submit, under circumstances that are incited to call it 
into existence. 

“ The Pathfinder ” did not originally appear for several 
years after the publication of “ The Prairie,” the work in which 
the leading character of both had closed his career by death. 
It was, perhaps, a too hazardous experiment to recall to life, in 
this manner, and after so long an interval, a character that was 
somewhat a favorite with the reading world, and which had 
been regularly consigned to 'his grave, like any living man. 
It is probably owing to this severe ordeal that the work, like its 
successor, “ The Deerslayer,” has been so little noticed ; scarce 
one in ten of those who know all about the three earliest books 
of the series having even a knowledge of the existence of the 
last at all. That this caprice in taste and favor is in no way 
dependent on merit, the writer feels certain ; for, though the 
world will ever maintain that an author is always the worst 
judge of his own productions, one who has written much, and 
regards all his literary progeny with more or less of a paternal 
eye, must have a reasonably accurate knowledge of what he has 
been about the greater part of his life. Such a man may form 
too high an estimate of his relative merits, a's relates to others; 
but it is not easy to see why he should fall into this error, more 


3 


PREFACE. 


than another, as relates to himself. His general standard maji 
be raised too high by means of self-love ; &it, unless he be dis- 
posed to maintain the equal perfection of what he has done, as 
probably no man was ever yet fool enough to do, he may very 
well have shrewd conjectures as to the comparative merits and 
defects of his own productions. 

This work, on its appearance, was rudely and maliciously 
assailed by certain individuals out of pure personal malignancy. 
It is scarcely worth the author’s while, nor would it have any 
interest for the reader, to expose the motives and frauds of these 
individuals, who have pretty effectually vindicated the writer 
by their own subsequent conduct. But even the falsest of men 
pay so much homage to truth as to strive to seem its votaries. 
In attacking “ The Pathfinder,” the persons alluded to pointed 
out faults that the author, for the first time, has now ascertained 
to be real : and much to his surprise, as of most of tnem he is 
entirely innocent. They are purely errors of the press, unless, 
indeed, the writer can justly be accused of having been a care- 
less proof-reader. A single instance of the mistakes he means 
may be given in explanation of the manner in which the book 
was originally got up. 

The heroine of this tale was at first called “ Agnes.” In the 
fifth or sixth chapter this name was changed to “ Mabel,” and 
the manuscript was altered accordingly. Owing to inadvertency, 
however, the original appellation stood in several places, and 
the principal female character of the book, until now, has had 
the advantage of going by two names ! Many other typo- 
graphical errors exist in earlier editions, most of which, it is 
believed, are corrected in this. 

There are a few discrepancies in the facts of this work, as 
connected with the facts of the different books of the series. 
They are not material, and it was thought fairer to let them 
stand as proof of the manner in which the books were originally 
written, than to make any changes in the text. 

In youth, when belonging to the navy, the writer of this 
book served for some time on the great Western lakes. He 
was, indeed, one of those who first carried the cockade of the 
republic on those inland seas. This was pretty early in the 
present century, when the navigation was still confined to the 
employment of a few ships and schooners. Since that day, 
light may have said to have broken into the wilderness, and the 
rays of the sun have penetrated to tens of thousands of beauti- 
ful valleys and plains, that then lay in “ grateful shade.” Towns 
have been built along the whole of the extended line of coasts, 


PREFACE, 


3 

and the traveller now stops many a place of ten or fifteenj. and 
at one of even fifty thousand inhabitants, where a few huts then 
marked the natural sites of future marts. In a word, though 
the scenes of this book are believed to have once been as nearly 
accurate as is required by the laws which govern fiction, they 
are so no longer, Oswego is a large and thriving town ; To- 
ronto and Kingston, on the other side of the lake, compete with 
It ; while Buffalo, Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Chicago 
on the upper lakes, to say nothing of a hundred places of lessei 
note, are fast advancing to the level of commercial places ol 
great local importance. In these changes, the energy of youth 
and abundance is quite as much apparent as anything else : and 
it is ardently to be hoped that the fruits of the gifts of a most 
bountiful Providence may not be mistaken for any peculiar 
qualities in those who have been their beneficiaries. A just 
appreciation of the first of these facts will render us grateful 
and meek ; while the vainglorious, who are so apt to ascribe all 
to themselves, will be certain to live long enough to ascertain 
the magnitude of their error. That great results are intended 
to be produced by means of those wonderful changes, we firmly 
believe ; but that they will prove to be the precise results now 
so generally anticipated, in consulting the experience of the 
past, and taking the nature of man into the account, the reflect- 
ing and intelligent may be permitted to doubt. 

It may strike the novice as an anachronism to place vessels 
on Ontario in the middle of the eighteenth century, but in this 
particular facts will fully bear out all the license of the fiction. 
Although the precise vessels mentioned in these pages may 
never have existed on that water, or anywhere else, others so 
nearly resembling them as to form a sufficient authority for 
their introduction into a work of fiction are known to have nav- 
igated that inland sea, even at a period much earlier than the 
one just mentioned. It is a fact not generally remembered, 
hoM^ever well known it may be, that there are isolated spots 
along the lines of the great lakes that date, as settlements, as 
far back as many of the oldest American towns, and which 
were the seats of a species of civilization long before the greater 
portion of even the original States was rescued from the wilder- 
ness. 

Ontario, in our own times, has been the scene of important 
naval evolutions. Fleets have manceuvered on those waters 
which, half a century since, were desert wastes, and the day is 
not distant when the whole of that vast range of lakes will be- 
come the seat of empire, and fraught with all the interests of 


PREFACE. 


4 

human society. A passing glimpse, even though it be in a work 
of fiction^ of what that vast region so lately was may help to 
make up the sum of knowledge by which alone a just apprecia- 
tion can be formed of the wonderful means by which Providence 
is clearing the way for the advancement of civilization across 
the whole American continent 


THE PATHFINDER 


CHAPTER I. 

** The turf shall be my fragrant shrine, 

My temple, Lord ! that arch of thine ; 

My censer’s breath the mountain airs. 

And silent thoughts my only prayers.” 

—Moore. 

The sublimity connected with vastness is familiar to every 
eye. The most abstruse, the most far-reaching, perhaps the 
most chastened of the poet’s thoughts, crowd on the imagina- 
tion as he gazes into the depths of the illimitable void. The 
expanse of the ocean is seldom seen by the novice with indiffer- 
ence ; and the mind, even in the obscurity of night, finds a 
parallel to that grandeur which seems inseparable from images 
that the senses cannot compass. With feelings akin to this ad- 
miration and awe — the offspring of sublimity — were the differ- 
ent characters with which the action of this tale must open, 
gazing on the scene before them. Four persons in all — two of 
each sex — they had managed to ascend a pile of trees, that had 
been uptorn by a tempest, to catch a view of the objects that 
.surrounded them. It is still the practice of the country to call 
these spots windrows. By letting in the light of heaven upon 
the dark and damp recesses of the wood, they form a sort of 
oases in the solemn obscurity of the virgin forests of America. 
The particular windrow of which we are writing, lay on the brow 
of a gentle acclivity, and it opened the way for an extensive 
view to those who might occupy its upper margin, a rare oc- 
currence to the traveller in the woods. As usual, the spot was 


6 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


small, but owing to the circumstances of its lying cn the lo\* 
acclivity mentioned, and that of the opening’s extending down- 
ward, it offered more than common advantages to the eye. 
Philosophy has not yet determined the nature of the power that 
so often lays desolate spots of this description : some ascribing 
it to the whirlwinds that produce water-spouts on the ocean ; 
while others again impute it to sudden and violent passages of 
streams of the electric fluid ; but the effects in the woods are 
familiar to all. On the upper margin of the opening to which 
there is allusion, the viewless influence had piled tree on tree, 
in such a manner as had not only enabled the two males of the 
party to ascend to an elevation of some thirty feet above the 
..evel of the earth, but, with a little care and encouragement, to 
induce their more timid companions to accompany them. The 
vast trunks that had been broken and driven by the force of 
the gust, lay blended like jack-straws; while their branches, 
still exhaling the fragrance of wilted leaves, w'ere interlaced in 
a manner to afford sufficient support to the hands. One tree 
had been completely uprooted ; and its lower end filled with 
earth, had been cast uppermost, in a way to supply a sort of 
staging for the four adventurers, when they had gained the de- 
sired distance from the ground. 

The reader is to anticipate none of the appliances of people 
of condition in the description of the personal appearance of 
the group in question. They were all wayfarers in the wilder- 
ness ; and had they not been, neither their previous habits nor 
their actual social positions would have accustomed them to 
many of the luxuries of rank. Two of the party, indeed, a male 
and a female, belonged to the native owners of the soil, being 
Indians of the well-known tribe of the Tuscaroras ; while their 
companions were a man, who bore about him the peculiarities 
of one who had passed his days on the ocean, and this, too, in 
a station little, if any, above that of a common mariner ; while 
his female associate was a maiden of a class in no great degree 
superior to his own ; though her youth sweetness of counten- 
ance, and a modest but spirited mien, lent that character of in- 
tellect and refinement which adds so much to the charm of 
beauty in the sex. On the present occasion, her full blue eye 
reflected the feeling of sublimity that the scene excited, and 
her pleasant face was beaming with the pensive expression with 
which all deep emotions, even though they bring the most 
grateful pleasure, shadow the countenances of the ingenuous 
and thoughtful. 

And, trulv, the scene was of a nature deeply to impress the 


THE PA THFINDER, 


7 

imagination of the beholder. Toward the west, in which 
direction the faces of the party were turned, and in which alone 
could much be seen, the eye ranged over an ocean of leaves, 
glorious and rich in the varied but lively verdure of a generous 
vegetation, and shaded by the luxuriant tints that belong to 
the forty-second degree of latitude. The elm, with its graceful 
and weeping top, the rich varieties of the maple, most of the 
noble oaks of the American forest, with the broad-leafed lin- 
den, known in the parlance of the country as the basswood, 
mingled their uppermost branches, forming one broad and 
seemingly interminable carpet of foliage, that stretched away 
towards the setting sun, until it bounded the horizon, by blend- 
ing with the clouds, as the waves and the sky meet at the base 
of the vault of heaven. Here and there, by, some accident of 
the tempests, or by a caprice of Nature, a trifling opening 
among these giant members of the forest permitted an inferior 
tree to struggle upward toward the light, and to lift its modest 
head nearly to a level with the surrounding surface of verdure. 
Of this class were the birch, a tree of some account in regions 
less favored, the quivering aspen, various generous nut-woods, 
and divers others that resembled the ignoble and vulgar, 
thrown by circumstances into the presence of the stately and 
great. Here and there, too, the tall, straight trunk of the pine 
pierced the vast field, rising high above it, like some grand 
monument reared by art on a plain of leaves. 

It was the vastness of the view, the nearly unbroken surface 
of verdure, that contained the principle of grandeur. The 
beauty was to be traced in the delicate tints, relieved by 
gradations of light and shadow ; while the solemn repose 
induced the feeling allied to awe. 

“Uncle,” said the wondering but pleased girl, addressing 
her male companion, whose arm she rather touched than 
leaned on, to steady her own light but firm footing, “ this is 
like a view of the ocean you so much love.” 

“ So much for ignorance, and a girl’s fancy, Magnet,” a 
term of affection the sailor often used in allusion to his niece’s 
personal attractions; “no one but a child would think of 
likening this handful of leaves to a look at the real Atlantic. 
You might seize all these tree-tops to Neptune’s jacket, and 
they would make no more than a nosegay for his bosom.” 

“ More fanciful than true, I think. Uncle. Look thither ; 
it must be miles and miles, and yet we see nothing but leaves) 
what more could one behold, if looking at the ocean .? ” 

“ More ! ” returned the uncle, giving an impatient gesture 


8 


THE PATHFINDER. 


with the elbow the other touched, for his arms were crossec^ 
and the hands were thrust into the bosom of a vest of re(J 
cloth, a fashion of the times, “more. Magnet? say, rather, 
what less ? Where are your combing seas, your blue waters^ 
your rollers, your breakers, your whales, or your water-spouts, 
and your endless motion in this bit of a forest, child ? ” 

“And where are your tree-tops, your solemn silence, your 
fragrant leaves, and your beautiful green, uncle, on the 
ocean ? ” ^ 

“ Tut, Magnet I if you understood the thing, you would 
know that green water is a sailor’s bane. He scarcely relishes 
a greenhorn less.” 

“ But green trees are a different thing. Hist ! that sound 
is the air breathing among the leaves.” 

“You should hear a nor’wester breathe, girl, if you fancy 
wind aloft. Now, where are your gales, and hurricanes, and 
trades, and levanters, and such like incidents in this bit of a 
forest, and what fishes have you swimming beneath yonder 
tame surface ? ” 

“ That there have been tempests here, these signs around 
us plainly show ; and beasts, if not fishes, are beneath those 
leaves.” 

“ I do not know that,” returned the uncle, with a sailor’s 
dogmatism. “ They told us many stories at Albany, of the 
wild animals we should fall in with, and yet we have seen 
nothing to frighten a seal. I doubt if any of your inland 
animals will compare with a low-latitude shark ! ” 

“ See ! ” exclaimed the niece, who was more occupied with 
the sublimity and beauty of the “ boundless wood ” than with 
her uncle’s arguments, “ yonder is a smoke curling over the 
tops of the trees — can it come from a house ? ” 

“Ay, ay; there is a look of humanity in that smoke,” 
returned the’ old seaman, “ which is worth a thousand trees ; I 
must show it to Arrowhead, who may be running past a port 
without knowing it. It is probable the^e is a camboose where 
there is a smoke.” 

As he concluded, the uncle drew a hand from his bosom, 
touched the male Indian, who was standing near him, lightly 
on the shoulder, and pointed out a thin line of vapor that was 
stealing slowly out of the wilderness of leaves, at a distance of 
about a mile, and was diffusing itself, in almost imperceptible 
threads of humidity, in the quivering atmosphere. The Tus- 
carora was one of those noble-looking warriors that were 
oftener met with among the aborigines of this continent a cen 


THE PATHFINDER, 


9 

tury since, than to-day ; and, while he had mingled sufficiently 
with the colonists to be familiar with their habits, and even 
with their language, he had lost little, if any, of the wild 
grandeur and simple dignity of a chief. Between him and the 
old seaman the intercourse had been friendly, but distant, for 
the Indian had been too much accustomed to mingle with the 
officers of the different military posts he had frequented, not to 
understand that his present companion was only a subordinate. 
So imposing, indeed, had been the quiet superiority of the 
Tuscarora’s reserve, that Charles Cap, for so was the seaman 
named, in his most dogmatical or facetious moments, had not 
ventured on familiarity, in an intercourse that had now lasted 
more than a week. The sight of the curling smoke, however, 
had struck the latter like the sudden appearance of a sail at 
sea, and for the first time since they met, he ventured to touch 
the warrior, as has been related. 

The quick eye of the Tuscarora instantly caught a sight of 
the smoke, and for quite a minute he stood, slightly raised on 
tiptoe, with distended nostrils, like the buck that scents a 
taint in the air, and a gaze as riveted as that of a trained 
pointer, while he waits his master’s aim. Then, falling back 
on his feet, a low exclamation, in the soft tones that form so 
singular a contrast to its harsher cries in the Indian warrior’s 
voice, was barely audible ; otherwise, he was undisturbed. 
His countenance was calm, and his quick, dark eagle-eye 
moved over the leafy panorama, as if to take in at a glance 
every circumstance that might enlighten his mind. That the 
long journey they had attempted to make through a broad belt of 
wilderness, was necessarily attended with danger, both uncle 
and niece well knew ; though neither could at once determine 
whether the sign that others were in their vicinity, was the har- 
binger of good or evil. 

“ There must be Oneidas or Tuscaroras near us. Arrow- 
head,” said Cap, addressing his Indian companion by his con- 
ventional English name ; “ will it not be well to join company 
with them, and get a comfortable berth for the night in their 
wigwam ? ” 

“ No wigwam there,” Arrowhead answered, in his unmoved 
manner — “ too much tree.” 

“ But Indians must be there ; perhaps some old messmates 
of your own. Master Arrowhead.” 

“ No Tuscarora — no Oneida — no Mohawk — pale-face fire.” 

“ The devil it is ! — Well, Magnet, this surpasses a seaman’s 
philosophy — we old sea-dogs can tell a soldier’s from a sailor s 


lO 


THE PA THFINDER, 


quid, or a lubber’s nest from a mate’s hammock ; but I do not 
think the oldest admiral in his majesty’s fleet can tell a king’s 
smoke from a collier’s ! ” 

The idea that human beings were in their vicinity in that 
ocean of wilderness, had deepened the flush on the blooming 
cheek and brightened the eye of the fair creature at his side, 
but she soon turned with a look of surprise to her relative, and 
said, hesitatingly, for both had often admired the Tuscarora’s 
knowledge, or, we might almost say, instinct : 

“A pale-face’s fire. Surely, uncle, he cannot know thatP^ 

“ Ten days since, child, I would have sworn to it : but now 
I hardly know what to believe. May I take the liberty of ask- 
ing, Arrowhead, why you fancy that smoke now, a pale-face’s 
smoke, and not a red-skin’s ^ ” 

“ Wet wood,” returned the warrior, with the calmness with 
which the pedagogue might point out the arithmetical demon- 
stration to his puzzled pupil. “ Much wet — much smoke ; 
much water — black smoke. ’ 

“ But, begging your pardon. Master Arrowhead, the smoke 
is not black, nor is there much of it. To my eye, now, it is as 
light and fanciful a smoke as ever rose from a captain’s tea- 
kettle, when nothing was left to make the fire but a few chips 
from the dunnage.” 

“ Too much water,” returned Arrowhead, with a slight nod 
of the head ; “ Tuscarora too cunning to make fire with water ; 
pale-face too much book, and burn anything : much book, little 
know.” 

“ Well, that’s reasonable, I allow,” said Cap, who was no 
devotee of learning ; “ he means that as a hit at your reading. 
Magnet, for the chief has sensible notions of things in his own 
way. How far now. Arrowhead, do you make us by your cal- 
culation, from the bit of a pond that you call the Great Lake, 
and toward which we have been so many days shaping our 
course .? ” 

The Tuscorora looked at the seaman with quiet superiority, 
as he answered : 

“ Ontario, like heaven ; one sun, and the great traveller will 
know it.” 

“ Well, I have been a great traveller, I cannot deny, but ot 
all my v’y’ges this has been the longest, the least profitable, and 
the farthest inland. If this body of fresh water is so nigh, Ar- 
rowhead, and at the same time so large, one might think a pair 
of good eyes would find it out, for apparently everything withir 
lairty miles is to be seen from this look-out.” 


THE PATHFINDER, 1 1 

Look,” said Arrowhead, stretching an arm before him with 
quiet grace — “ Ontario.” 

“Uncle, you are accustomed to cry ‘Land hoi ” but not 
‘Water ho ! ’ and you do not see it,” cried the niece, laughing, 
as girls will laugh at their own idle conceits. 

“ How now. Magnet ! dost suppose that I shouldn’t know 
my native element, if it were in sight ? ” 

“ But Ontario is not your native element, dear uncle, for you 
come from the salt water, while this is fresh.” 

“ That might make some difference to your young mariner, 
but none in the world to the old one. I should know water, 
child, were I to see it in China.” 

“ Ontario,” repeated the Arrowhead, with emphasis, again 
stretching his hand towards the northwest. 

Cap looked at the Tuscarora, for the first time since their 
acquaintance, with something like an air of contempt, though 
he did not fail to follow the direction of the chiefs eye and 
arm, both of which were pointing, to all appearance, toward a 
vacant spot in the heavens, a short distance above the plain of 
leaves. 

“ Ay, ay, this is much as I expected, when I left the coast 
to come in search of a fresh-water pond,” resumed Cap, shrug- 
ging his shoulders like one whose mind was made up, and wLo 
thought no more need be said. “ Ontario may be there, or, for 
that matter, it may be in my pocket. Well, I suppose there will 
be room enough, when we reach it, to work our canoe. But, 
Arrowhead, if there be pale-faces in our -neighborhood, I con- 
fess I should like to get within hail of them.” 

The Tuscarora now gave a quiet inclination of his head, and 
the whole party descended from the roots of the upturned tree, 
in silence. When they had reached the ground, Arrowhead in- 
timated his intention to go toward the fire, and ascertain who 
had lighted it, while he advised his wife and the two others to 
return to a canoe, which they had left in an adjacent stream, 
and await his return. 

“ Why, chief, this might do on soundings, and in an offing, 
where one knew the channel,” returned old Cap, “ but, in an 
unknown region like this, I think it unsafe to trust the pilot 
alone too far from the ship, so with your leave, we will not part 
company.” 

“ What my brother want ? ” asked the Indian, gravely,though 
without taking offence at a distrust that was sufficiently plain. 

“ Your company. Master Arrowhead, and no mote, I wili 
go with you, and speak these strangers.” 


12 


THE BATHFINDER. 


The Tuscarora assented without difficulty, and again he di- 
rected his patient and submissive little wife, who seldom turned 
her full, rich black eye on him, but to express equally her res^ 
pect, her dread, and her love, to proceed to the boat. But here 
Magnet raised a difficulty. Although spirited, and of unusual 
energy under circumstances of trial, she was but woman, and 
the idea of being entirely deserted by her two male protectors 
in the midst of a wilderness, that her senses had just told her 
was seemingly illimitable, became so keenly painful that she ex* 
pressed a wish to accompany her uncle. 

“ The exercise will be a relief, dear sir, after sitting so long 
in the canoe,” she added, as the rich blood slowly returned to 
a cheek that had paled in spite of her efforts to be calm, “ and 
there may be females with the strangers.” 

“ Come, then, child — it is but a cable’s length, and we shall 
return an hour before the sun sets.” 

With this permission, the girl, whose real name was Mabel 
Dunham, prepared to be of the party, while the Dew-of-June, as 
the wife of Arrowhead was called, passively went her way toward 
the canoe, too much accustomed to obedience, solitude, and the 
gloom of the forest, to feel apprehension. 

The three who remained in the window now picked their way 
around its tangled maze, and gained the margin of the woods in 
the necessary direction. A few glances of the eye sufficed for 
Arrowhead, but old Cap deliberately set the smoke by a pocket 
compass before he trusted himself within the shadow^s of the 
trees. 

“ This steering by the nose. Magnet, may do well enougl 
for an Indian, but your thoroughbred knows the virtue of th^ 
needle,” said the uncle, as he trudged at the heels of the light- 
stepping Tuscarora. “ America would never have been discov 
ered, take my word for it, if Columbus had been nothing but 
nostrils. Friend Arrowhead, didst ever see a machine likfc 
this ? ” 

The Indian turned, cast a glance at the compass which Cap 
held in a way to direct his course, and gravely answered : 

“ A pale-face eye. The Tuscarora see in his head Thu 
Salt-water ” (for so the Indian styled his companion) “ all eyu 
now ; no tongue.” 

“ He means, uncle, that we had needs be -silent ; perhapw 
he distrusts the persons we are about to meet.” 

^ ‘‘ Ay — ’tis an Indian’s fashion of going to quarters. You pev* 
ceive he has examined the priming of his rifle, and it may be m 
well if I look to that of my own pistols.” 


THE ^ 'HFINDER, 


n 

Without betraying alarm at these preparations, to which she 
had become accustomed by her long journey in the wilderness, 
Mabel followed with a step as light and elastic as that of the 
Indian, keeping close in the rear of her companions. For the 
first half mile no other caution beyond a rigid silence was ob« 
served ; but as the party drew nearer to the spot where the 
fire was known to be, much greater care became necessary. 

The forest, as usual, had little to intercept the view below 
the branches but the tall, straight trunks of trees. Everything 
belonging to vegetation had struggled toward the light, and 
beneath the leafy canopy one walked, as it might be, through 
a v^ast natural vault that was upheld by myriads of rustic columns. 
1’hese columns, or trees, however, often served to conceal 
the adventurer, the hunter, or the foe ; and, as Arrowhead 
swiftly approached the spot where his practice and unerring 
senses told him the stranger sought to be, his footsteps gradually 
became lighter, his eye more vigilant, and his person was more 
carefully concealed. 

“ See, Salt-water,” he said exultingly, pointing at the same 
time through the vista of trees, “ pale-face fire ! ” 

“ By the lord the fellow is right ! ” muttered Cap ; “ there 
they are, sure enough, and eating their grub as quietly as if 
they were in the'cabin of a three-decker.” 

“ Arrowhead is but half right,” whispered Mabel, “for there 
are two Indians and only one white man.” 

“ Pale-face,” said the Tuscarora, holding up two fingers ; 
“ red man,” holding up one. 

“ Well,” rejoined Cap, “ it is hard to say which is right and 
which is wrong. Orte is entirely white, and a fine comely lad 
he is, with an air of life and respectability about him ; one is a 
red-skin as plain as paint and Nature can make him ; but the 
third chap is half-rigged, being neither brig nor schooner.” 

“ Pale-face,” repeated Arrowhead, again raising two fingers 
— “ red man,” and showing but one. 

“ He must be right, uncle, for his eye seems never to fail. 
But it is now urgent to know whether we meet as friends or 
foes. They may be French.” 

“ One hail will soon satisfy us on that head,” returned Cap. 
“ Stand you behind this tree. Magnet, lest the knaves take it 
into their heads to fire a broadside without a parley, and I will 
soon learn what colors they sail under.” 

The uncle had placed his two hands to his mouth to form a 
trumpet, and was about to give the promised hail, when a rapid 


M 


THE PA THFINDER. 


movement from Arrowhead defeated the intention by deranging 
the instrument. 

“ Red man, Mohican,” said the Tuscarora — “ good ; pale* 
face, Yengeese.” 

“ These are heavenly tidings,” murmured Mabel, who little 
relished the prospect of a deadly fray in that remote wilderness. 
“ Let us approach at once; dear uncle, and proclaim ourselves 
friends.” 

“ Good,” said the Tuscarora, “ red man cool, and know ; 
paleface hurried, and fire. Let squaw go.” 

“ What ! ” said Cap, in astonishment ; “ send little Magnet 
ahead as a lookout, while two lubbers, like you and me, lie-to 
to see what sort of land-fall she will make ! If I do, I — ” 

“It is wisest, uncle,” interrupted the generous girl, “ and 
I have no fear. No Christian, seeing a woman approach alone, 
would fire upon her, and my presence will be a’ pledge of peace. 
Let me go forward, as Arrowhead wishes, and all will be well. 
We are, as yet, unseen, and the surprise of the strangers will 
not partake of alarm.” 

“ Good,” returned Arrowhead, who did not conceal his ap 
probation of Mabel’s spirit. 

“ It has an unseaman-like look,” answered Cap, “ but, being in 
the woods, no one will know it. If you think, Mabel — ” 

“ Uncle, I know there is no cause to fear for me ; and you 
are always nigh to protect me.” 

“ Well, take one of the pistols, then ” 

“Nay, I had better rely on my youth and feebleness,” said 
the girl, smiling, while her color heightened under her feelings, 
“ Among Christian men, a woman’s best guard is her claim to 
their protection. I know nothing of arms, and wish to live in 
ignorance of them.” 

The uncle desisted : and, after receiving a few cautious in- 
structions from the Tuscarora, Mabel rallied all her spirit, and 
advanced alone toward the group seated near the fire. Although 
the heart of the girl beat quick, her step was firm, and her 
movements, seemingly, were without reluctance. A death-like 
silence reigned in the forest, for they, toward whom she ap* 
proached, were too much occupied in appeasing that great nat- 
ural appetite, hunger, to avert their looks for an instant from 
the important business in which they were all engaged. When 
Mabel, however, had got within a hundred feet of the fire, she 
trod upon a dried stick, and the trifling noise that was produced 
by her light footstep caused the Mohican, as Arrowhead had 


THE PATHFINDER. 


15 

pronounced the Indian to be, and his companion whose char- 
acter had been thought so equivocal, to rise to their feet as 
quick as thought. Both glanced at the rifles that leaned against 
a tree, and then each stood, without stretching out an arm, as 
his eyes fell on the form of the girl. The Indian uttered a few 
words to his companion, and resumed his seat and his meal as 
camly as if no interruption had occured. On the contrary, the 
white man had left the fire and came forward to meet Mabel. 

The latter saw, as the stranger approached, that she was 
about to be addressed by one of her own color, though his dress 
was so strange a mixture of the habits of the two races that it 
required a near look to be certain of the fact. He was of 
middle age, but there was an open honesty, a total absence of 
guile, in his face which otherwise would not have been thought 
handsome that at once assured Magnet she was in no danger. 
Still she paused, in obedience to a law of her habits if not of 
Nature, which rendered her adverse to the appearance of advanc- 
ing too freely to meet one of the other sex, under the circum- 
stances in which she was placed. 

“ Fear nothing young woman,’* said the hunter, for such his 
attire would indicate him to be, “ you have met Christian men 
in the wilderness, and such as know how to treat all kindly that 
are disposed to peace and justice. I’m a man well known in 
all these parts, and perhaps one of my names may have reached 
your ears. By the Frenchers, and the red skins on the other 
side of the Big Lakes, I am called la Longue Carabine, by the 
Mohicans, a just minded and upright tribe what is left of them. 
Hawk-eye ; while the troops and ranges along this side of the 
water called me Pathfinder, inasmuch as I have never been 
known to miss one end of the trail, when there was a Mingo or a 
friend who stood in need of me, at the other.” 

This was not uttered boastfully, but with the honest con- 
fidence one who well knew that by whatever name others might 
have heard of him, he had no reason to blush at the reports. 
The effect on Mable was instantaneous. The moment she 
heard the last sobriquet, she clasped her hands eagerly and 
•epeated the word 

“ Pathfinder ! ” 

“ So they call me, young woman, and many a great lord has 
got a title that he did not half so well merit ; though, if iruth 
be said, I rather pride myself in finding my way where there is 
no path than in finding it where there is. But the regular troops 
are by no means particular, and half the time they don’t ki om 


i6 


THE PATHFINDER. 


the difference atween a trail and a path, though one is a mattef 
for the eye, while the other is little more than scent.” 

“ Then you are the friend my father promised to send to 
meet us ! ” 

“ If you are Sergeant Dunham’s daughter, the great Prophet 
of the Delawares never uttered a plainer truth.” 

“ I am Mabel, and yonder, hid by the trees, are my uncle, 
whose name is Cap, and a Tuscarora, called Arrowhead. We 
did not hope to meet you until we had nearly reached the shores 
of the lake.” 

“ I wish a juster-minded Indian had been your guide,” said 
Pathfinder, “ for I am no lover of the Tuscaroras, v/ho have 
travelled too far from the graves of their fathers to always re- 
member the Great Spirit : and Arrowhead is an ambitious chief 
Is Dew-of-June with him ? ” 

“ His wife accompanies us, and an humble and mild creature 
she is.” 

“ Ay and true-hearted ; which is more than any who know 
him will say of Arrowhead. Well we must take the fare that 
Providence bestows, while we follow the trail of life. I suppose 
worse guides might have been found than the Tuscarora ; 
though he has too much Mingo blood for one who consorts al 
together with the Delawares.” 

“ It is then, perhaps, fortunate we have met,” said Mable. 

“ It is misfortunate at any rate, for I promised the sergeant 
I would see his child safe to the garrison, though I died for it. 
We expected to meet you before you reached the falls, where 
we have left our own canoe ; while we thought it might do no 
harm to come up a few miles in order to be of service if wanted. 
It’s lucky we did, for I doubt if Arrowhead be the man to shoot 
the current.” 

Here come my uncle and the Tuscarora, and our parties 
can now join.” 

As Mabel concluded. Cap and Arrowhead, who saw that the 
conference was amicable, drew nigh, and a few words sufficed 
to let them know as much as the girl herself had learned from 
the strangers. As soon as this was done, the party proceeded 
toward the two who still remained near the fire. 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


*1 


CHAPTER II. 

•* Vea I long as Nature’s humblest child 
Hath kept her temple undefiled 
By simple sacrifice. 

Earth’s fairest scenes are all his own, 

He is a monarch, and his throne 

Is built among the skies ! ” Wilson, 

The Mohican continued to eat, though the second white 
man rose and courteously took off his cap to Mabel Dunham. 
He was young, healthful, and manly in appearance : and he 
wore a dress, which, while it was less rigidly pro|essional than 
that of the uncle, also denoted one accustomed to the water. In 
that age real seamen were a class entirely apart from the rest 
of mankind ; their ideas, ordinary language, and attire, being 
as strongly indicative of their calling, as the opinions, speech, 
and dress of a Turk denote a Mussulman. Although the Path- 
finder was scarcely in the prime of life, Mabel had met him with 
a steadiness that may have been the consequence of having 
braced her nerves for the interview; but, when her eyes encoun- 
tered those of the young man at the fire, they fell before the 
gaze of admiration, v/ith which she saw, or fancied she saw, he 
greeted her. Each, in truth, felt that interest in the other, 
which similarity of age, condition, mutual comeliness, and their 
novel situation, would be likely to inspire in the young and in- 
genuous. 

“ Here,” said Pathfinder, with an honest smile bestowed on 
Mabel, “ are the friends your worthy father has sent to meet you. 
This is a great Delaware ; and one that has had honors as 
well as troubles in his day. He has an Injin name fit for a 
chief, but as the language is not always easy for the inex- 
perienced to pronounce, we nat’rally turn it into English, and 
call him the Big Serpent. You are not to suppose, however, 
that by this name we wish to say that he is treacherous, beyond 
what is lawful in a red-skin, but that he is wise, and has the 
cunning that becomes a warrior. Arrowhead, there, knows 
what I mean.” 

While the Pathfinder was delivering this address, the two 
Indians gazed on each other steadily, and the Tuscarora ad- 
vanced and spoke to the other in apparently friendly manner. 

“ I like to see this,” continued Pathfinder ; “ the salutes of 
two red-skins in the woods, master Cap, are like the hailing of 


iS 


THE PA THFINDER, 


friendly vessels on the ocean. But, speaking of water, it 
minds me of my young friend, Jasper Western, here, who can 
claim to know something of these matters, seeing that he has 
passed his days on Ontario.” 

“ I am glad to see you, friend,” said Cap, giving the young 
fresh-water sailor a cordial gripe ; “ though you must have 
something still to learn, considering the school to which you 
have been sent. This is my niece, Mabel — I call her Magnet, 
for a reason she never dreams of, though you may, possibly, 
have education enough to guess at it, having some pretensions 
to understand the compass, I suppose.” 

“ The reason is easily comprehended,” said the young man, 
involuntarily fastening his keen dark eye, at the same time, on 
the suffused ^ace of the girl ; “ and I feel sure that the sailor 
who steers by your Magnet, will never make a bad land-fall.” 

“ Ha ! you do make use of some of the terms, I find, and 
that with propriety and understanding ; though, on the whole, I 
fear that you have seen more green than blue water.” 

It is not surprising that we should get some of the phrases 
that belong to the land, for we are seldom out of sight of it 
twenty-four hours at a time.” 

“ More’s the pity, boy ; more’s the pity. A very little land 
ought to go a great way with a seafaring man. Now, if the 
truth were known. Master Western, I suppose there is more or 
less land all round your lake.” 

“ And, uncle, is there not more or less land all round the 
ocean ? ” said Magnet, quickly ; for she dreaded a premature 
display of the old seaman’s peculiar dogmatism, not to say 
pedantry. 

“ No, child, there is more or less ocean all round the land ! 
that’s what I tell the people ashore, youngster. They are living 
as it might be, in the midst of the sea, without knowing it ; by 
sufferance, as it were, the water being so much the more 
powerful, and the largest But there is no end to conceit in 
this world, for a fellow who never saw salt water often fancies 
he knows more than one who had gone round the Horn. No — ■ 
no — this earth is pretty much an island, and all that can be 
truly said not to be so, is water.” 

Young Western had a profound deference for a mariner of 
the ocean, on which he had often pined to sail ; but he had, also, 
a natural regard for the broad sheet on which he had passed 
his life, and which was not without its beauties in his eyes. 

“ What you say, sir,” he answered, modestly, “ may be true, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


19 

as to the Atlantic ; but we have a respect for the land up here, 
on Ontario.’* 

“ That is because you are all always land-locked,” return 
Cap, laughing heartily. “ But yonder is the Pathfinder, as they 
call him, with some smoking platters, inviting us to share in his 
mess •, and I will confess that one gets no venison at sea. Mas- 
ter Western, civility to girls, at your time of life, comes as easy 
as taking in the slack of the ensign halyards and if you will 
just keep an eye to her kid and can while I join the mess of the 
Pathfinder and our Indian friends, I make no doubt she will 
remember it.” 

Master Cap uttered more than he was aware of at the time. 
Jasper Western did look to the wants of Mabel, and she long 
remembered the kind manly attention of the young sailor, at 
this their first interview. He placed the end of a log for a seat, 
obtained for her a delicious morsel of the venison, gave her a 
draught of water from the spring, and as he sat near 

and opposite to her, fast won his way to her esteem by his 
gentle but frank manner of manifesting his care ; homage that 
woman always wishes to receive, but which is never so flatter- 
ing, or so agreeable, as when it comes from the young to those 
of their own age ; from the manly to the gentle. Like most of 
those who pass their time excluded from the society of the 
softer sex, young Western was earnest, sincere, and kind in his 
attentions, which, though they wanted a conventional refinement 
that perhaps Mabel never missed, had those winning qualities 
that prove very sufficient as substitutes. Leaving these two 
inexperienced and unsophisticated young people to become ac- 
quainted through their feelings, rather than their expressed 
thoughts, we will turn to the group, in which the uncle, with a 
facility of taking care of himself that never deserted him, had 
already become a principal actor. 

The party had taken up their places around a platter of 
venison-steaks, which served for the common use, and the dis 
course naturally partook of the characteis of the different indivi 
duals that composed it. The Indians were silent and industri- 
ous, the appetite of the aboriginal Americans for venison being 
seemingly inappeasable ; while the two white men were com- 
municative and discursive, each of the latter being garruloiH 
and opinionated in his way. But, as the dialogue will serve to 
put the reader in possession of certain facts that may rendei 
the succeeding narrative more clear, it will be well to record it. 

There must be satisfaction in this life of yours, no doubt 


20 


THE PATHFINDER, 


Mr. Pathfinder,’^ continued Cap, when the hunger ot the travel* 
lers was so far appeased that they began to pick and choose 
among the savory morsels ; “ it has some of the chances and 
luck that we seamen like, and if ours is all water, yours is all 
land.” 

“ Nay, we have water, too, in our journeyings and marches,” 
returned h^s white companion ; “ we bordermen handle tho 
paddle and the spear almost as much as the rifle and the hum- 
ing-knife.” 

“ Ay ; but do you handle the brace and the bowline ; the 
wheel and the lead-line ; the reef-point and the top-rope ? The 
paddle is a good thing out of doubt, in a canoe, but of what use 
‘s it in the ship ? ” 

“ Nay, I respect all men in their callings, and I can believe 
the things you mention have their uses. One, who has lived, 
like myself, in company with many tribes, understands differ- 
ences in usages. The paint of a Mingo is not the paint of a 
Delaware ; and he who should expect to see a warrior in the 
dress of a squaw, might be disappointed. I’m not very old, 
but I have lived in the woods, and have some acquaintance 
with human natur’. I never believed much in the learning of 
them that dwell in towns, for I never yet met with one that had 
an eye for a rifle or a trail.” 

“ That’s my manner of reasoning, Master Pathfinder, to a 
yarn. Walking about streets, going to church of Sundays, and 
hearing sermons, never yet made a man of a human being. 
Send the boy out upon the broad ocean, if you wish to open his 
eyes, and let him look upon foreign nations, or what I call the 
face of Natur’, if you wash him to understand his own charac- 
ter. Now, there is my brother-in-law, the sergeant, he is as 
good a fellow as ever broke a biscuit, in his own way ; but 
what is he, after all .? why, nothing but a soger. A sergeant, 
to be sure, but that is a sort of a soldier, you know. When he 
wished to marry poor Bridget, my sister, I told the girl what he 
was, as in duty bound, and what she might expect from such a 
husband ; but you know how it is with girls when their minds 
are jammed by an inclination. It is true, the sergeant has 
risen to his calling, and they say he is an important man at the 
fort ; but his poor wife has not lived to see it at all, for she has 
now been dead these fourteen years.” 

“A soldier’s calling is an honorable calling, provided he 
has fi’t only on the side of right,” returned the Pathfinder ; 
“ and as the Drenchers are alw-ays wrong, and his sacred 
maiesty and these colonies are always right, I take it the ser 


THE PA THFJNDER, 


21 


geant has a quiet conscience, as well as a good character. I have 
never slept more sweetly than when I have fi’t the Mingoes, 
the ugh it is the law with me to fight always like a white man, 
and never like an Injin. The Sarpent, here, has his fashions^ 
and I have mine ; yet have we fou’t side by side, these many 
years,- without either’s thinking a hard thought consarning the 
other’s ways. I tell him there is but one heaven and one hell, 
notwithstanding his traditions, though there are many paths to 
both.’’ 

“ 7 hat is rational, and he is bound to believe you, though I 
fancy most of the roads to the last are on dry land. The sea 
is what my poor sister, Bridget, used to call a “ purifying-place,’* 
and one is out of the way of temptation when out of sight of 
land. I doubt if as much can be said in favor of your lakes, up 
here-away.” 

“ That towns and settlements lead to sin, I will allow ; but 
our lakes afe bordered by the forests, and one is every day 
called upon to worship God in such a temple. That men are 
not always the same, even in the wilderness, I must admit, for 
the difference atween a Mingo and a Delaware is as plain to be 
seen as the difference atween the sun and moon. I am glad, 
friend Cap, that we have met, howsever, if it be only that you 
may tell the Big Sarpent, here, that there be lakes in which the 
water is salt. We have been pretty much of one mind since oui 
acquaintance begun and if the Mohican has only half the faith 
in me that I have in him, he believes all that I have told him, 
touching the white man’s ways and Nature’s laws ; but it has 
always seemed to me that none of the red-skins have given as 
free a belief, as an honest man likes to the accounts of the. 
Big Salt Lakes, and to that of there being rivers that flow up* 
stream.” 

“ This comes of getting things wrong end foremost,” an- 
swered Cap, with a condescending nod. You have thought 
of your lakes and rifts, as the ship, and of the ocean and the 
tides, as the boat. Neither Arrowhead nor the Sarpent need 
doubt what you have said concerning both, though I confess, 
myself, to some difficulty in swallowing the tale about there be- 
ing inland seas at all, and still moie that there is any sea of fresh 
water. I have come this long journey, as much to satisfy my 
own eyes and palate concerning these facts, as so oblige the 
sergeant and Magnet ; though the first was my sister’s husband, 
and I love the last like a child. 

“ You are wrong — you are wrong, friend Cap, very wrong 
to distrust the power of God, in anything,” returned Pathfinder, 


22 


THE PA THFINDER, 


earnestly. “ Them that live in the settlements and the towns 
get to have confined and unjust opinions consarning the might 
of His hand, but we who pass our time in his very presence, as 
it might be, see things differently — I mean such of us as have 
white natur’s. A red-skin has his notions, and it is right that 
it should be so ; and if they are not exactly the same as a Christ- 
ian white man’s, there is no harm in it. Still there are matters 
that belong altogether to the ordering of God’s providence — 
and these salt and fresh water lakes are some of them. I do 
not pretend to account for these things, but I think it the duty 
of all to believe in them. For my part, I am one of them who 
think that the same hand which made the sweet water, can make 
the salt.” 

“ Hold on there. Master Pathfinder,” interrupted Cap, not 
without some heat ; “ in the way of a proper and manly faith, 

I will turn my back on no one, when afloat. Although more 
accustomed to make all snug aloft, and to show the proper 
canvas, than to pray when the hurricane comes, I know that we 
are but helpless mortals at times, and I hope I pay reverence 
where reverence is due. All I mean to say, and that is rather 
insiniated than said, is this ; which is, as you all know, simply 
an intimation that, being accustomed to cee water in large 
bodies salt^ I should like to taste it, before I can believe it to 
be fr^shP 

“ God has given the salt lick to the deer, and he has given 
to man, red skin and white, the delicious spring at which to 
slake his thirst. It is unreasonable to think that he may not 
have given lakes of pure water to the West, and lakes of impure 
water to the East.” 

Cap was awed, in spite of his overweening dogmatism, by 
the earnest simplicity of the Pathfinder, though he did not relish 
the idea of believing a fact which, for many years, he had 
pertinaciously insisted could not be true. Unwilling to give up 
the point, and, at the same time, unable to maintain it against 
a reasoning to which he was unaccustomed, and which possessed 
equally the force of truth, and probability, he was glad to get 
rid of the subject by evasion. 

“ Well, well, friend Pathfinder,” he said, “ we will nipper ' 
the argument where it is ; and, as the sergeant has sent you 
to give us pilotage to this same lake we can only try the water 
when we reach it. Only mark my words — I do not say that it 
may not be fresh on the surface ; the Atlantic is sometimes 
fresh on the surface, near the mouths of great rivers ; but rely 
on it, I shall show you a way of tasting the water many fathoms 


THE PA THFINDER. 


23 


deep, of which you never dreamed ; and then we shall know 
more about it.” 

The guide seemed content to let the matter rest, and the 
conversation changed. 

“ We are not over-consaited consarning our gifts,” ob' 
served the Pathfinder, after a short pause, “ and well know 
that such as live in the towns, near the sea — ” 

“ On the sea,” interrupted Cap. 

“ On the sea, if you wish it, friend, have opportunities that 
do not befall us of the wilderness. Still, we know our own 
callings, and they are what I consider nat’ral callings, and are 
not parvarted by vanity and wantonness. Now my gifts are 
with the rifle, and on a trail, and in the way of game and 
scoutin’ ; for, though I can use the spear and the paddle, I 
pride not myself on either. The youth, Jasper, there, who is 
discoursing with the sergeant’s daughter’s is a different creatur’, 
for he may be said to breathe the water, as it might be, like a 
fish. The Indians and Trenchers of the north shore call him 
Eau-douce, on account of his gifts in this particular. He is 
better at the oar and the rope, too, than in making fires on a 
trail.” 

“ There must be something about these gifts of which you 
speak, after all,” said Cap. “ Now this fire, I will acknowledge, 
has overlaid all my seamanship. Arrowhead, there, said the 
smoke came from a pale-face’s fire, and that is a piece of phil- 
osophy that I hold to be equal to steering in a dark night by 
the edges of the scud.” 

“ It’s no great secret — it’s no great secret,” returned Path- 
finder, laughing with great inward glee, though habitual caution 
prevented the emission of any noise. “ Nothing is easier to us 
who pass our time in the great school of Providence, than to I’arn 
its lessons. We should be as useless on a trail, or in carrying 
tidings through the wilderness, as so many woodchucks, did we 
not soon come to a knowledge of these niceties. Eau-douce, 
as we call him, is so fond of the water, that he gathered a damp 
stick or two for our fire, and there be plenty of them, as well 
as those that are thoroughly dried, lying scattered about ; and 
wet will bring dark smoke, as I suppose even you followers of 
the sea must know. It’s no great secret — it’s no great secret — 
though all is mystery to such as doesn’t study the Lord and his 
mighty ways with humility and thankfulness.” 

“ That must be a keen eye of Arrowhead’s to see so slight 
H difference.” 

‘‘He would be but a poor Injin if he didn’t ! No, no ; it 


24 


THE PA THFINDER. 


is war time, and no red-skin is outlying without using his senses. 
Every skin has its own natur’, and every natur’ has its own laws, 
as well as its^wn skin. It was many years afore I could master 
all them higher branches of a forest edication, for red-skin 
knowledge doesn’t come as easy to white-skin natur’, or what I 
suppose is intended to be white-skin knowledge ; though I have 
but little of the latter, having passed most of my time in the 
wilderness.” 

“ You have been a ready scholar. Master Pathfinder, as is 
seen by your understanding these things so well. I suppose it 
would be no great matter, for a man regularly brought up to 
the sea, to catch these trifles, if he could only bring his mind 
fairly to bear upon them.” 

“ I don’t know that. The white man has his. difficulties in 
getting red-skin habits, quite as much as the Injin in getting 
white-skin ways. As for the real natur’, it is my opinion that 
neither can actually get that of the other.” 

“ And yet we sailors, who run about the world so much, say 
there is but one nature, whether it be in the Chinaman or a 
Dutchman. For my own part, I am much of that way of think- 
ing, too ; for I have generally found that all nations like gold 
and silver, and most men relish tobacco.” 

“ Then you seafaring men know little of the red-skins. Have 
you ever known any of your Chinamen who could sing their 
death-songs, with their flesh torn with splinters and cut with 
knives, the fire raging around their naked bodies, and death 
staring them in the face } Until you can find me a Chinaman, 
or a Christian man, that can do all this, you cannot find a man 
with red-skin natur’, let him look ever so valiant, or know how 
to read all the books that was ever printed.” 

“ It is the savages only that play each other such hellish 
tricks ! ” said Master Cap, glancing his eyes about him uneasily 
at the apparently endless arches of the forest. “ No white man 
is ever condemned to undergo these trials.” 

“ Nay, therein you are ag’in mistaken,” returned the Path- 
finder, coolly selecting a delicate morsel of the venison as his 
bonne boiiche ; “for, though these torments belong only to the 
red-skin natur’, in the way of bearing them like braves, white- 
skin natur’ may be, and often has been, agonized by them.” 

“ Happily,” said Cap, with an effort to clear his throat, 
“ none of his majesty’s allies will be likely to attempt such dam- 
nable cruelties, on any of his majesty’s loyal subjects. I have 
not served much in the royal navy, it is true ; but I have served 
— and that is something ; and in the way of privateering and 


THE PA THFINDER. 


25 

worrying the enemy in his ships and cargoes, I’ve done my 
full share. But I trust there are no French savages on this 
side the lake, and I think you said that Ontario is a broad sheet 
of water ? ” 

“ Nay, it is broad in our eyes,” returned Pathfinder, not 
caring to conceal the smile which lighted a face that had been 
burnt by exposure to a bright red, “ though I mistrust that some 
may think it narrow ; and narrow it is, if you wish it to keep 
off the foe. Ontario has two ends, and the enemy that is afraid 
to cross it w’ill be sartin to come round it.” 

“ Ah ! that comes of your d — d fresh-water ponds ! ’’ growled 
Cap, hemming so loud as to cause him instantly to repent the 
indiscretion. “No man, now, ever heard of a pirate’s or a 
ship’s getting round one end of the Atlantic ! ” 

“ Mayhap the ocean has no ends ? ” 

“ That it hasn’t, nor sides, nor bottom. The nation that is 
snugly moored on one of its coasts need fear nothing from the 
one anchored abeam, let it be ever so savage, unless it pos- 
sesses the art of ship- building. No no — the people who live 
on the shores of the Atlantic need fear but little for their skins 
or their scalps. A man may lie down at night, in those regions, 
in the hope of finding the hair on his head in the morning, un- 
less he wears a wig.” 

“ It isn’t so here. I don’t wish to flurry the young woman, 
and therefore I will be no way particular — though she seems 
pretty much listening to Eau-douce, as we call him — but with- 
out the edication I have received, I should think it, at this very 
moment, a risky journey to go over the very ground that lies 
atween us and the garrison, in the present state of this frontier. 
There are about as many Iroquois on this side of Ontario as 
there be on the other. It is for this very reason, friend Cap, 
that the sergeant has engaged us to come out and show you the 
path.” 

“ What ! — do the knaves dare to cruise so near the guns of 
one of his majesty’s works ” 

“ Do not the ravens resort near the carcass of the deer, 
ihough the fowler is at hand They come this-a-way, as it 
might be, nat’rally. There arc more or less whites passing at- 
ween the forts and the settlements, and they are sure to be on 
their trails. The Sarpent had come up on one side of the river, 
and I have come up the other, in order to scout for the outly- 
ing rascals, while Jasper brought up the canoe, like a bold- 
hearted sailor, as he is. The sergeant told him, with tears in 
his eyes, all about his child, and how his heart yearned for her, 


2 (> 


THE PA THFINDER 


and how gentle and obedient she was, until I think the lad 
would have dashed into a Mingo camp, single-handed, rather 
than not a-come.” 

“ We thank him — we thank him ; and shall think the better 
of him for his readiness ; though I suppose the boy has run no 
great risk, after all.” 

“ Only the risk of being shot from a cover, as he forced the 
canoe up a swift rift, or turned an elbow in the stream, with 
his eyes fastened on the eddies. Of all the risky journeys, 
that on an ambushed river is the most risky, in my judgment, 
and that risk has Jasper run.” 

“ And why the devil has the sergeant sent for me to travel 
a hundred and fifty miles in this outlandish manner ? Give me 
an offing, and the enemy in sight, and I’ll play with him in his 
own fashion, as long as he pleases, long bows or close quarters ; 
but to be shot like a turtle asleep, is not to my humor. If it 
were not for little Magnet there, I would tack ship this instant, 
make the best of my way back to York, and let Ontario take 
care of itself, salt water or fresh water ! ” 

“That wouldn’t mend the matter much, friend mariner, as 
the road to return is much longer, and almost as bad as the 
road to go on. Trust to us, and we will carry you through 
safe, or lose our scalps.” 

Cap wore a tight solid cue, done up in eel-skin, while the 
top of his head was nearly bald : and he mechanically passed 
his hand over both, as if to make certain that each was in its 
right place. He was at the bottom, however, a brave man, and 
had often faced death with coolness, though never in the fright- 
ful forms in which it presented itself, under the brief but 
graphic pictures of his companion. It was too late to retreat : 
and he determined to put the best face on the matter, though 
he could not avoid muttering inwardly a few curses on the in- 
difference and indiscretion with which his brother-in-law, the 
sergeant, had led him into his present dilemma. 

“ I make no doubt. Master Pathfinder,” he answered, when 
these thoughts had found time to glance through his mind, 
“ that we shall reach port in safety. What distance may we 
now be from the fort ” 

“ Little more than fifteen miles ; and swift miles, too, as 
the river runs, if the Mingoes let us go clear.” 

“ And I suppose the woods will stretch along, starboard 
and larboard, as heretofore V* 

“Anan?” 


THE FATHFIN'nEE. 


27 

" I mean that we shall have to pick our way through these 
d- d trees ! ” 

“ Nay, nay, you will go in the canoe, and the Oswego has 
been cleared of its flood-wood by the troops. It will be float- 
ing down-stream, and that, too, with a swift current.’^ 

“And what the devil is to prevent these minks, of which 
you speak, from shooting us as we double a headland, or are 
busy in steering clear of the rocks ? ’’ 

“ The Lord ! — He who h^s so often helped others in greater 
difficulties. Many and many is the time that my head would 
have been stiipped of hair, skin and all, hadn’t the Lord fi’t on 
my side. I never go into a scrimmage, friend mariner, without 
thinking of this great ally, who can do more in battle than all 
the battalions of the 60th, were they brought into a single line.” 

“ Ay — ay-7— this may do well enough for a scouter ; but we 
seamen like our offlng, and to go into action with nothing in 
our minds but the business before us — plain broadside and 
broadside work, and no trees or rocks to thicken the water.” 

“ And no Lord, too, I dare say, if the truth was known ! 
Take my word for it. Master Cap, that no battle is the worse 
fou’t for havin’ the Lord on your side. Look at the. head of 
the big Sarpent there ; you can see the mark of a knife all 
along by his left ear ; now, nothing but a bullet from this long 
rifle of mine saved his scalp that day, for it had fairly started, 
and half a minute more would have left him without the war- 
lock. When the Mohican squeezes my hand, and intermates 
that I befri’nded him in that matter, I tell him, no ; it was the 
Lord who led me to the only spot where execution could be 
done, or his necessity be made known, on account of the smoke. 
Sartain when I got the right position, I finished the affair of 
my own accord, for a fri’nd under the tomahawk is apt to make 
a man think quick, and act at once, as was my case, or the 
Sarpent’s spirit would be hunting in the happy land of his 
people at this very moment.” 

“ Come, come. Pathfinder, this palaver is worse than being 
skinned from stem to stern : we have but a few hours of sun, 
and had better be drifting down this said current of yours while 
we may. Magnet, dear, are you not ready to get under way ? ” 

Magnet started, blushed brightly, and made her prepara- 
tions for an immediate departure. Not a syllable of the dis- 
course just related had she heard, for Eau-douce, as young 
Jasper was oftener called than anything else, had been filling 
her ears with a description of the yet distant port toward which 
she was journeying, with accounts of her father, whom she had 


28 


THE PATHFINDER, 


not seen since a child, and with the manner of life of those 
who lived in the frontier garrisons. Unconsciously, she had 
become deeply interested, and her thoughts had been too in- 
tently directed to these interesting matters to allow any of the 
less agreeable subjects discussed by those so near to reach her 
ears. The bustle of departure put an end to the conversation 
entirely, and the baggage of the scouts, or guides, being tri- 
fling, in a few minutes the whole party was ready to proceed. 
As they w^ere about to quit the spot, however, to the surprise of 
even his fellow-guides. Pathfinder collected a quantity of 
branches, and threw them upon the embers of the fire, taking 
care even to see that some of the wood was damp, in order to 
raise as dark and dense a smoke as possible. 

“ When you can hide your trail, Jasper,” he said, “ a smoke 
at leaving an encampment may do good, instead of harm. If 
there are a dozen Mingoes within ten miles of us, some on ’em 
are on the heights, or in the trees, looking out for smokes : let 
them see this, and much good may it do them. They are 
welcome to our leavings.” 

“ But may they not strike, and follow on our trail ? ” asked 
the youth, whose interest in the hazard of his situation had 
much increased since the meeting with Magnet. “ We shall 
leave a broad path to the river.” 

“ The broader the better ; when there, it will surpass Mingo 
cunning even, to say which way the canoe has gone ; up-stream 
or down. Water is the only thing in Natur’ that will thoroughly 
wash out a trail, and even water will not always do it, when 
the scent is strong. Do you not see, Eau-douce, that if any 
Mingoes have seen our path below the falls, they will strike off 
toward this smoke, and that they will nat’rally conclude that 
they who began by going up-stream, will end by going up- 
stream ? If they knew anything, they now know a party is out 
from the fort, and it will exceed even Mingo wit to fancy that 
we have come up here, just for the pleasure of going back 
again, and that, too, the same day, and at the risk of cut 
scalps.” 

“ Certainly,” added Jasper, who was talking apart with the 
Pathfinder, as they moved toward the windrow, “ they cannot 
know anything about the sergeant’s daughter, for the greatest 
secrecy has been observed on her account.” 

“ And they will I’arn nothing here,” returned Pathfinder, 
causing his companion to see that he trod with the utmost care, 
on the impressions left on the leaves by the little foot of Mabel, 


THE PATHFINDER, 


29 

“ unless this old salt-water fish has been taking his niece about 
the windrow, like a fa’n playing by the side of the old doe.’^ 

“ Buck, you mean, Pathfinder.” 

“ Isn’t he a queerity ! Now I can consort with such a sailor 
as yourself, Eau-douce, and find nothing very contrary in our 
gifts, though yours belong to the lakes and mine to the woods. 
Harkee, Jasper,” continued the scout, laughing in his noiseless 
manner ; “ suppose we try the temper of his blade, and run him 
over the falls ? ” 

“ And what would be done with the pretty niece in the 
meanwhile ? ” 

“ Nay, nay — no harm shall come to her ; she must walk round 
the portage, at any rate ; but you and I can try this Atlantic 
Oceaner, and then all parties will become better acquainted. 
We shall find out whether his flint will strike fire, and he may 
come to know something of frontier tricks ! ” 

Young Jasper smiled, for he was not averse to fun, and had 
been a little touched by Cap’s superciliousness ; but Mabel’s 
fair face, light, agile form and winning smiles stood like a shield 
between her uncle and the intended experiment. 

“ Perhaps the sergeant’s daughter will be frightened,” he 
said. 

“ Not she, if she has any of the sergeant^s spirit in her. 
She doesn’t look like a skeary thing, at all. Leave it to me, 
Eau-douce, and I will manage the affair alone.” 

“Not you. Pathfinder ; you would only drown both. If the 
canoe goes over I must go in it.” 

“ Well, have it so, then ; shall we smoke the pipe of agree- 
ment on the bargain ? ” 

Jasper laughed, nodded his head byway of consent, and the 
subject was dropped, for the party had reached the canoe, so 
often mentioned, and fewer words had determined much greatei 
things between the parties. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


SO 


CHAPTER IIL 


*• Before these fields were shorn and tilled 
Full to the brim our rivers flowed ; 

The melody of waters filled 

The fresh and boundless wood ; 

And torrents dashed, and rivulets played, 

And fountains spouted in the shade.” 

— Bkyant. 

It generally known that the waters which flow into th® 
southern side of Ontario are, in general, narrow, sluggish and 
deep. There are some exceptions to this rule, for many of the 
rivers have rapids, or, as they are termed in the language of 
the region, rifts, and some have falls. Among the latter was 
the particular stream on which our adventurers were now jour- 
neying. The Oswego is formed by the junction of the Oneida 
and the Onondaga, both of which flow from lakes ; and it pur- 
sues its ways, through a gentle, undulating country, a few miles, 
•until it reaches the margin of a sort of natural terrace, down 
which it tumbles some ten or fifteen feet, to another level, across 
which it glides, or glances, or pursues its course, with the si- 
lent stealthy, progress of deep water, until it throws its tribute 
into the broad receptacle of Ontario. The canoe in which Cap 
and his party had travelled from Fort Stanwix, the last military 
station on the Mohawk, lay by the side of this river, and into 
it the whole party now entered, with the exception of Path- 
finder, who remained on the land, in order to shove the light 
vessel off. 

“ Let her starn drift down-stream Jasper,” said the man of 
the woods to the young mariner of the lake, who had dis- 
possessed Arrowhead of his paddle, and taking his own station 
as steersman ; “ let it go down with the current. Should any 
of them infarnals, the Mingoes, strike our trail, or follow it to 
this point, they will not fail to look for the signs in the mud, 
and if they discover that we have left the shore with the nose 
of the canoe up-stream, it is a nat’ral belief to think that we* 
went that-a-way.” 

This direction was followed ; and giving a vigorous shovc^, 
the Pathfinder, who was in the flower of his strength and activity, 
made a leap, landing lightly, and without disturbing its equili- 
brium, in the bow of the canoe. As soon as it had reached 
the centre, of the river, or the strength of the current, the boat 
was turned, and it began to glide noiselessly down the stream. 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


31 

The vessel in which Cap and his niece had embarked for 
their long and adventurous journey, was one of the canoes of 
bark which the Indians are in the habit of constructing, and 
which, by their exceeding lightness, and the ease with which 
they are propelled, are admirably adapted to a navigation in 
which shoals, floodwood, and other similar obstructions, so 
often occur. The two men who composed its original crew had 
several times carried it, when emptied of its luggage, many 
hundred yards ; and it would not have exceeded the strength 
of a single man to lift its weight. Still it was long, and, for a 
canoe, wide, a want of steadiness being its principal defect in 
the eyes of the uninitiated. A few hours’ practice, however, 
in a great measure remedied this evil, and both Mabel and her 
uncle had learned so far to humor its movements, that they 
now maintained their places with perfect composure ; nor did 
the additional weight of three guides tax its powers in any par- 
ticular degree, the breadth of the rounded bottom allowing the 
necessary quantity of water to be displaced, without bringing the 
gunwale very sensibly nearer to the surface of the stream. Its 
workmanship was neat ; the timbers were small and secured by 
thongs ; and the whole fabric, though it was so slight and pre- 
carious to the eye, was probably capable of conveying double 
the number of persons that it now contained. 

Cap was seated on a low' thwart, in the centre of the canoe ; 
the Big Serpent knelt near him. Arrowhead and his wife oc- 
cupied places forward of both, the former having relinquished his 
post aft. Mabel was half reclining on some of her owm effects, 
behind her uncle, while the Pathfinder and Eau-douce stood 
erect, the one in the bow and the other in the stern, each using 
a paddle, with a long, steady, noiseless sweep. The conversa- 
tion was carried on in low tones, all the party beginning to feel 
the necessity of prudence, as they drew nearer to the outskirts 
of the fort, and had no longer the cover of the w'oods. 

The Oswego, just at that place, was a deep, dark stream, 
of no great width, its still, gloomy-looking current winding its 
way among overhanging trees, that, in particular spots, almost 
shut out the light of the heavens. Here and there some half 
fallen giant of the forest lay nearly across its surface, render- 
ing care necessary to avoid the limb ; and, most of the distance, 
the lower branches and leaves of the trees of smaller growth 
were laved by its waters. The picture which has been so 
beautifully described by our own admirable poet, and which 
we have placed at the head of this chapter, as an epigraph, was 
here realized; the earth fattened by the decayed vegetation of 


THE PATHFINDER, 


32 

centuries, and black with loam, the stream that filled the banks 
nearly to overflowing, and the “fresh and boundless wood,” 
being all as visible to the eye, as the pen of Bryant has else- 
where vividly presented them to the imagination. In short, 
the entire scene was one of a rich and benevolent nature, be- 
fore it had been subjected to the uses and desires of man ; 
luxuriant, wild, full of promise, and not without the charm of 
the picturesque, even in its rudest state. It will be remembered 
that this was in the year 175— or long before even specula- 
tion had brought any portion of Western New York within the 
bounds of civilization, or the projects of the adventurous. At 
that distant day, there were two great channels of military com- 
munication between the inhabited portion of the colony of New 
York, and the frontiers that lay adjacent to the Canadas; that 
by Lakes Champlain and George, and that by means of the 
Mohawk, Wook Creek, the Oneida, and the rivers we have 
been describing. Along both these lines of communication, 
military posts had been established though there existed a 
blank space of a hundred miles between the last fort at the 
head of the Mohawk, and the outlet of the Oswego, which em- 
braced most of the distance that Cap and Mabel had journeyed 
under the protection of Arrowhead. 

“ I sometimes wish for peace again,” said the Pathfinder, 
“when one can range the forest without s’arching for any 
other inemy than the beasts and fishes. Ah’s me ! many is the 
day that the Sarpent, there, and I have passed happily among 
the streams, living on venison, salmon, and trout, without 
thought of a Mingo or a scalp ! I sometimes wish that them 
blessed days might come back, for it is not my raal gift to slay 
my own kind. I’m sartain the sergeant’s daughter don’t think 
me a wretch that takes pleasure in preying on human natur’ ! ” 

A.t this remark, a sort of interrogatory. Pathfinder looked 
behind him ; and, though the most partial friend could even 
scarcely term his sunburnt and hard features handsome, 
Mabel thought his smile attractive by its simple ingenuous- 
ness, and the uprightness that beamed in every lineament 
of his honest countenance. 

“ I do not think my father would have sent one like those 
you mention, to see his daughter through the wilderness,” the 
young woman answered, returning the smile as frankly as it 
was given, and much more sweetly. 

“ That he wouldn’t, that he wouldn’t : the sergeant is a man 
of feelin’, and many is the march and the fight that we have 
stood shoulder to shoulder in, as we would call it — though I 


THE PATHFmDER. 


33 

ivould always keep my limbs free when near a Frencher or a 
Mingo/’ 

“ You are then the young fiiend of whom my father has 
spoken so often in his letters ? ” 

“ His friend — the sergeant has the advantage of me 

by thirty years ; yes, he is thirty years my senior, and as many 
my better.” 

“ Not in the eyes of the daughter, perhaps, friend Path- 
finder,” put in Cap, whose spirits began to revive when he found 
the water once more flowing around him. “ The thirty years 
that you mention are not often thought to be an advantage in 
the eyes of girls of nineteen.” 

Mabel colored, and, in turning aside her face to avoid the 
looits of those in the bow of the canoe, she encountered the 
admiring gaze of the young man in the stern. As a last 
resource, her spirited but soft blue eyes sought refuge in the 
water. Just at this moment a dull, heavy sound swept up the 
avenue formed by the trees, borne along by a light air that 
hardly produced a ripple on the water. 

“ That sounds pleasantly,” said Cap, pricking up his ears 
like a dbg that hears a distant baying ; “ it is the surf on the 
shores of your lake, I suppose ? ” 

“ Not so — not so,” answered the Pathfinder — “ it is merely 
this river tumbling over some rocks half a mile below us.” 

“Is there a fall in the stream?” demanded Mabel, a still 
brighter flush glowing in her face. 

“ The devil ! Master Pathfinder — or you, Mr. Oh !-the- 
deuce — ” (for so Cap began to style Jasper by way of entering 
cordially into the border usages), “ had you not better give the 
canoe a sheer, and get nearer to the shore ? These waterfalls 
have generally rapids above them, and one might as well get 
into the Maelstrom at once as to run into their suction.” 

“ Trust to us — trust to us, friend Cap,” answered Path- 
finder ; “ we are but fresh-water sailors, it is true, and I cannot 
boast of being much, even of that ; but we understand rifts, 
and rapids, and cataracts ; and in going down these, we shall 
do our endivors not tc disgrace our edication.” 

“ In going down ! ” exclaimed Cap — “ the devil, man ! you 
do not dream of going down a waterfall, in this eggshell of 
bark ? ” 

“ Sartain ; the path lies over the falls, and it is much easier 
to shoot them than to unload the canoe, and to carry that, and 
all it contains, around a portage of a mile, by hand.” 

Mabel turned her pallid countenance toward the young man 


^4 


THE PATHFINDER. 


in the stern of the canoe, for just at that moment a fresh roai 
•of the fall was borne to her ears by a new current of the air, 
and it really sounded terrific, now that the cause was under- 
stood. 

“ We thought that, by landing the females and the two In- 
dians,” Jasper quietly observed, “ we three white men, all o/ 
whom are used to the water, might carry the canoe over in. 
safety, for we often shoot these falls.” 

“ And we counted on you, friend mariner, as a mainstay,” 
said Pathfinder, winking at Jasper over his shoulder, “for you 
are accustomed to see waves tumbling about, and, without some 
one to steady the cargo, all the finery of the sergeant’s daughter 
might be washed into the river and be lost.” 

Cap was puzzled. The idea of going over a waterfall was 
perhaps more serious, in his eyes, than it would have been in 
those of one totally ignorant of all that pertained to boasts ; 
for he understood the power of the element and the total feeble- 
ness of man when exposed to its fury. Still, his pride revolted 
at the thought of deserting the boat while others not only 
courageously but coolly proposed to continue in it. Notwith- 
standing the latter feeling, and his innate as well as acquired 
steadiness in danger, he would probably have deserted his 
post, had not the images of Indians tearing scalps from the 
human head taken so strong hold of his fancy as to induce him 
to imagine the canoe a sort of sanctuary. 

“ What is to be done with Magnet ? ” he demanded, affec- 
tion for his niece raising another qualm in his conscience. 

We cannot allow Magnet to land if there are enemy’s Indi- 
ans near.” 

“ Nay — no Mingo will be near the portage, for that is a 
spot too public for their deviltries,” answered the Pathfinder, 
confidently. “ Natur’ is natur’, and it is an Injin’s natur’ to 
be found where he is least expected. No fear of him on a 
beaten path, for he wishes to come upon you when unprepared 
to meet him, and the fiery villains make it a point to deceive 
you one way or another. Sheer in, Eau-douce ; we will land 
the sergeant’s daughter on the end of that log, where she can 
reach the shore with a dry foot.” 

The injunction was obeyed, and in a few minutes the whole 
party had left the canoe with the exception of Pathfinder and 
the two sailors. Notwithstanding his professional pride, Cap 
would have gladly followed, but he did not like to exhibit so 
unequivocal a weakness in the presence of a fresh-water sailor. 

“ I call all hands to witness.” he said, as those who had 


THE PA THFINDER. 


35 

landed moved away, “ that I do not look on this affair as any- 
thing more than canoeing in the woods. There is no seaman- 
ship in tumbling ever a waterfall, which is a feat the greatest 
lubber can perform as well as the oldest mariner.” 

“ Nay, nay, you needn’t despise the Oswego Falls, neither,” 
put in Pathfinder, “ for, though they may not be Niagara, nor 
the Genesee, nor the Cahoos, nor Glenn’s', nor them on the 
Canada, they are narvous enough for a new beginner. Let the 
sergeant’s daughter stand on yonder rock, and she will see the 
manner in which we ignorant backwoodsmen get over a diffi- 
culty that we can’t get under. — Now, Eau-douce, a steady hand 
and a true eye, for all rests on you, seeing that we can count 
Master Cap for no more than a passenger.” 

The canoe was leaving the shore as he concluded, while 
Mabel went 'hurriedly and trembling to the rock that had been 
pointed out, talking to her companion of the danger her uncle 
so unnecessarily ran, while her eyes were riveted on the agile 
and vigorous form of Eau-douce as he stood erect in the stern 
of the light boat, governing its movements. As soon, however, 
as she reached a point where she got a view of the fall, she 
gave an involuntary but suppressed scream, and covered her 
eyes. At the next instant, the latter w'ere again free, and the 
entranced girl stood immovable as a statue, a scarcely-breath- 
ing observer of all that passed. The two Indians seated them- 
selves passively on a log, hardly looking towards the stream, 
while the wife of Arrowhead came near Mabel, and appeared 
to watch the motions of the canoe with some such interest as a 
child regards the leaps of a tumbler. 

As soon as the boat was in the stream, Pathfinder sank on 
his knees, continuing to use the paddle, though it was slowly, 
and in a manner not to interfere with the efforts of his com- 
panion. The latter still stood erect, and, as he kept his eye 
on some object beyond the fall, it was evident that he was 
carefully looking for the spot proper for their passage. 

“ Farther west, boy ; farther west,” muttered Pathfinder ; 
“ there where you see the water foam. Bring the top of the 
dead oak in a line with the stem of the blasted hemlock.” 

Eau-douce made no answer, for the canoe was in the centre 
of the stream, with its head pointed toward the fall, and it had 
already begun to quicken its motion by the increased force of 
the current. At that moment, Cap would cheerfully have re- 
nounced every claim to glory that could possibly be acquired 
by the feat to have been safe again on shore. He heard the 
roar of the water, thundering, as it might be, behind a screen, 


THE PA THFINDER. 


36 

but becoming more and more distinct, louder and louder ; and 
before him he saw its line cutting the forest below, along which 
the green and angry element seemed stretched and shining, as 
if the particles were about to lose their principles of cohesion. 

“ Down with your helm — down with your helm, man ! ” he 
exclaimed, unable any longer to suppress his anxiety, as the 
canoe glided toward the edge of the fall. 

“ Ay — ay — down it is, sure enough,” answered Pathfinder, 
looking behind him for a single instant, with his silent, joyous 
laugh — “ down we go of a sartainty ! Heave her starn up, boy 
— farther up with her starn ! ” 

The rest was like the passage of the viewless wind. Eau- 
douce gave the required sweep with his paddle, the canoe 
glanced into the channel, and for a few seconds it seemed to 
Cap that he was tossing in a cauldron. He felt the bow of the 
canoe tip, saw the raging, foaming water careering madly by 
his side, was sensible that the light fabric in which he floated 
was tossed about like an eggshell ; and then, not less to his 
great joy than to his surprise, he discovered that it was gliding 
across the basin of still water below the fall, under the steady 
impulse of Jasper’s paddle. 

The Pathfinder continued to laugh, but he rose from his 
knees, and, searching for a tin pot and a horn spoon, he began 
deliberately to measure the water that had been taken in the 
passage. 

“ Fourteen spoonfuls, Eau-douce ; fourteen fairly measured 
spoonfuls. I have, you must acknowledge, known you to go 
down with only ten.” 

“ Master Cap leaned so hard up-stream,” returned Jasper, 
seriously, “ that I had difficulty in trimming the canoe.” 

“ It may be so — it may be so ; no doubt it was so, since you 
say it; but I have known you go over with only ten.” 

Cap now gave a tremendous hem, felt for his cue, as if to 
ascertain its safety, and then looked back, in order to examine 
the danger he had gone through. His importunity is easily ex- 
plained. Most of the river fell perpendicularly ten or twelve 
feet ; but near its centre, the force of the current had so far 
worn away the rock as to permit the water to shoot through a 
narrow passage, at an angle of about forty or forty-five degrees. 
Down this ticklish descent the canoe had glanced, amid frag- 
ments of broken rock, whirlpools, foam, and furious tossings of 
the element, which an uninstructed eye would believe menaced 
inevitable destruction to an object so fragile. But the very light- 
ness of the canoe favored its descent ; for, borne on the crests 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


37 

of the waves and directed by a steady eye and an arm full of 
muscle, it had passed like a feather from one pile of foam to 
another, scarcely permitting its glossy side to be wetted. 
There were a few rocks to be avoided ; the proper direction 
was to be rigidly observed, and the fierce current did the rest.* 

To say that Cap was astonished, would not be expressing 
half his feelings. He felt awed, for the profound dread of 
rocks, which most seamen entertain, came in aid of his admiration 
of the boldness of the exploit. Still he was indisposed to express 
all he felt, lest he might be conceding too much in favor of 
fresh water and inland navigation : and no sooner had he cleared 
his throat with the aforesaid hem, than be loosened his tongue 
in the usual strain of superiority. 

“ I do not gainsay your knowledge of the channel. Master 
Oh !-the-De4ce ” (for such he religiously believed to be J asper’s 
sobriquet), “ and after all, to know the channel in such a place 
is the main point. I have had coxswains with me who could 
come down that shoot too, if they only knew the channel.” 

“It isn’t enough to know the channel, friend mariner,” said 
Pathfinder ; “ it needs narves and skill to keep the canoe 
straight and to keep her clear of the rocks, too. There isn’t 
another boatman in all this region that can shoot the Oswego, 
but Eau-douce, there, with any sartainty ; though, now and then, 
one has blundered through. I can’t do it myself, unless by 
means of providence, and it needs Jasper’s hand and Jasper’s 
eye to make sure of a dry passage. Fourteen spoonfuls, after 
all, are no great matter, though I wish it had been but ten, seeing 
that the sergeant’s daughter was a looker-on.” 

“ And yet you conned the canooe ; you told him how to head 
and how to sheer.” 

“ Human frailty, master mariner ; that was a little of white- 
skin natur’. Now, had the Sarpent, yonder, been in the boat, 
not a word would he have spoken, or thought would he have 
given to the public. An Injin knows how to hold his tongue ; 
but we white folk fancy we are always wiser than our fellows. 
I’m curing myself fast of the weakness, but it needs time to 
root up the tree that has been growing more than thirty 
years.” 

“ I think little of this affair, sir ; nothing at all, to speak my 
mind freely. It’s a mere wash of spray to shooting London 
Bridge, which is done every day by hundreds of persons, and 

♦ Lest the reader suppose we are dealing purely in fiction, the writer will add that he ha» 
known a long thirty-two pounder carried over these same falls in perfect safety- 


THE PATHFINDER. 


3S 

often by the most delicate ladies in the land. The king’s 
majesty has shot the bridge in his royal person.” 

“ Well, I want no delicate ladies or king’s majesties (God 
bless ’em ! ) in the canoe, in going over these falls ; for a boat’s 
breadth, either way, may make a drowning matter of it. Eau- 
douce, we shall have to carry the sergeant’s brother ovei 
Niagara yet, to show him what may be done on the frontier ! ” 

“ The devil ! Master. Pathfinder, you must be joking, now. 
Surely it is not possible for a bark canoe to go over that mighty 
cataract ! ” 

“You never were more mistaken. Master Cap, in your life. 
Nothing is easier, and many is the canoe I have seen go over 
it, with my own eyes, and, if we both live, I hope to satisfy you 
that the feat can be done. For my part, I think the largest 
ship that ever sailed on the ocean might be carried over, could 
she once get into the rapids.” 

Cap did not perceive the wink which Pathfinder exchanged 
with Eau-douce, and he remained silent for some time ; for, 
sooth to say, he had never suspected the possibility of going 
down Niagara, feasible as the thing must appear to every one. 
on a second thought, the real difficulty existed in going up it. 

By this time, the party had reached the place where Jasper 
had left his own canoe concealed in the bushes, and they all 
re-embarked ; Jasper, Cap, and his niece, in one boat, and 
Pathfinder, Arrowhead, and the wife of the latter, in the other. 
The Mohican had already passed down the banks of the river 
by land, looking cautiously, and with the skill of his people, 
for the signs of an enemy. 

The cheek of Mabel did not recover all its bloom until the 
canoe was again in the current, down which it floated swiftly, 
occasionally impelled by the paddle of Jasper. She witnessed 
the descent of the falls with a degree of terror that had rendered 
her mute, but her fright had not been so great as to prevent 
admiration of the steadiness of the youth, who directed the 
movement, from blending with the passing terror. In truth, 
one much less quick and sensitive might have had her feelings 
awakened by the cool and gallant air with which Eau-douce had 
accomplished this clever exploit. He had stood firmly erect, 
notwithstanding the plunge ; and to those who were on the shore, 
it was evident that, by a timely application of his skill and 
strength, the canoe had received a sheer that alone carried it 
clear of a rock, over which the boiling water was leaping jets 
d'eau — now leaving the brown stone visible,and now covering it 
with a limpid sheet, as if machinery controlled the play of th« 


THE PA THFINDER. 


39 


clement. The tongue cannot always express what the eye views, 
but Mabel saw enough, even in the moment of fear, to blend 
forever in her mind the pictures represented by the plunging 
canoe and the unmoved steersman. She admitted that insidious 
sentiment which binds woman so strongly to man, by feeling 
additional security in finding herself under his care ; and, for 
the first time since leaving Fort Stanwix, she was entirely at 
her ease in the frail bark in which she travelled. As the other 
canoe kept quite near her own, however, and the Pathfinder, 
by floating at her side, was most in view, the conversation was 
principally maintained with that person ; Jasper seldom speak- 
ing unless addressed, and constantly exhibiting a wariness in 
the management of his own boat, that might have been re- 
marked by one accustomed to his ordinary, confident, careless 
manner, had such an observer been present to note what was 
passing. 

“ We know too well a woman’s gifts, to think of carrying 
the sergeant’s daughter over the falls,” said Pathfinder, looking 
at Mabel, while he addressed her uncle ; “ though I’ve been 
acquainted with some of her sex, in them regions, that would 
think but little of doing the thing.” 

Mabel is faint-hearted, like her mother,” returned Cap, 
“ and you did well, friend, to humor her weakness. You will 
remember the child has never been at sea.” 

“ No — no — it was easy to discover that, by your own 
fearlessness — any one might have seen how little you cared 
about the matter ! I went over once with a raw hand, and he 
jumped out of the canoe, just as it tipped, and you may judge 
what a time he had of it ! ” 

“ What became of the poor fellow } ” asked Cap, scarce 
knowing how to take the other’s manner, which was so dry, 
while it was so simple, that a less obtuse subject than the old 
sailor might well have suspected its sincerity. “ One who has 
passed the place knows how to feel for him.” 

“ He was a />oor fellow, as you say ; and a poor frontier 
man, too, though he came out to show his skill among us ignor- 
anters. What became of him ? Why, he went down the falls 
topsy-turvy like, as would have happened to a court-house or a 
fort.” 

“ If it should jump out of a canoe,” interrupted Jasper, 
smiling, though he was evidently more disposed than his friend 
to let the passage of the falls be forgotten. 

“ The boy is right,” rejoined Pathfinder, laughing in Mabel’s 
face, the canoes now being so near that they almost touched; 


4 ^ 


THE PA THFJNDER, 


“ he is sartainly right. But you have not told us what you 
think of the leap we took ! ” 

“ It was perilous and bold,” said Mabel ; “ while looking at 
it, I could have wished that it had not been attempted, though, 
now it is over, I can admire its boldness, and the steadiness 
with which it was made.” 

“ Now, do not think that we did this thing to set ourselves 
off in female eyes. It may be pleasant to the young to win 
each other’s good opinions, by doing things that may seem 
praiseworthy and bold ; but neither Eau-douce nor myself is of 
that race. My natur’, though perhaps the Sarpent would be a 
better witness, has few turns in it, and is a straight natur’ ; nor 
would it be likely to lead me into a vanity of this sort while out 
on duty. As for Jasper, he would sooner go the Oswego falls 
without a looker-on, than do it before a hundred pair of eyes. 
I know the lad well, from use and much consorting, and I am 
sure he is not boastful or vainglorious.” 

Mabel rewarded the scout with a smile that served to keep 
the canoes together for some time longer, for the sight of youth 
and beauty was so rare on that remote frontier, that even the 
rebuked and self-mortified feelings of this wanderer of the forest 
were sensibly touched by the blooming loveliness of the girl. 

“ We did it for the best,” Pathfinder continued ; “ ’twas all 
for the best. Had we waited to carry the canoe across the 
portage, time would have been lost, and nothing is so precious 
as time, when you are distrustful of Mingoes.” 

“ But we can have little to fear now ! The canoes move 
swiftly, and two hours, you have said, will carry us down to the 
fort.” 

“ It shall be a cunning Iroquois who hurts a hair of your 
head, pretty one, for all here are bound to the sergeant, and 
most, I think, to yourself, to see you safe from harm. Ha ! 
Eau-douce ; what is that in the river, at the lower turn, yonder, 
beneath the bushes — I mean standing on the rock ? ” 

“ ’Tis the Big Serpent, Pathfinder; he is making signs to 
us, in a way I don’t understand.” 

“ ’Tis the Sarpent, as sure as I’rn a white man, and he wishes 
us to drop in nearer to his shore. Mischief is brewin’n’, or 
one of his deliberation and steadiness would never take this 
trouble. Courage all ! we are men, and must meet deviltry as 
becomes our color and our callings. Ah ! I never knew good 
come of boastin’ ; and here, just as I was vauntin’ of our safety, 
comes danger to give me the lie.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


4.1 


CHAPTER IV. 

** Art stryring to compare 

With Nature, did an arber greene dispred, 

Framed of wanton yvie flowing fayre. 

Through which the fragrant eglantines did spred I 

— Sfensbr. 

The Oswego, below the falls, is a mcTre rapid, unequal 
stream than it is above them. There are places where the 
river flows in the quiet stillness of deep water, but many shoals 
and rapids cfccur ; and, at that distant day, when everything 
was in its natural state, some of the passes were not altogether 
without hazard. Very little exertion was required on the part 
of those who managed the canoes, except in those places where 
the swiftness of the current and the presence of the rocks re- 
quired care ; when, indeed, not only vigilance, but great cool- 
ness, readiness, and strength of arm, became necessary in order 
to avoid the dangers. Of all this the Mohican was aware, and 
he had judiciously selected a spot where the river flowed tran- 
quilly, to intercept the canoes, in order to make his communica- 
tion without hazard to those he wished to speak. 

The Pathfinder had no sooner recognized the form of his 
red friend, than, with a strong sweep of his paddle, he threw the 
head of his own canoe toward the shore, motioning for Jasper 
to follow. In a minute both boats were silently drifting down 
the stream, within reach of the bushes that overhung the water, 
all observing a profound silence ; some from alarm, and others 
from habitual caution. As the travellers drew nearer the Indian, 
he made a sign for them to stop ; when he and Pathfinder had 
a short but earnest conference, in the language of the Dela- 
wares. 

“ The chief is hot apt to see enemies in a dead log,” ob- 
served the white man to his red associate ; “ why does he tell 
us to stop } ” 

“ Mingoes are in the woods.” 

“ That we have believed these two days ; does the chief 
know it ? ” 

The Mohican quietly held up the head of a pipe, formed of 
Btone. 


42 


THE PA THFINDER, 


It lay on a fresh trail that led toward the garrison ” — foi 
so it was the usage of that frontier, to term a military work, 
whether it was occupied or not. 

“ That may be the bowl of a pipe belonging to a soldier. 
Many use the red-skin pipes.” 

“ See,” said the Big Serpent, again holding the thing he 
had found up to the view of his friend. 

The bowl of the pipe was of soapstone, and it had been 
carved with great care, and with a very respectable degree of 
skill. In its centre was a small Latin cross, made with an 
accuracy that permitted no doubt of its meaning. 

“ That does foretell deviltry and wickedness,” said the Path- 
finder, who had all the provincial horror of the holy symbol in 
question that then pervaded the country, and which became so 
incorporated with its prejudices, by confounding men with 
things, as to have left its traces strong enough on the moral 
feeling of the community to be discovered even at the present 
hour; “no Injin who had not been parvarted by the cunning 
priests of the Canadas would dream of carving a thing like that 
on his pipe ! I’ll warrant ye, the knave prays to the image 
every time he wishes to sarcumvent the innocent, and work his 
fearful wickedness. It looks fresh, too, Chingachgook ? ” 

“ The tobacco was burning when I found it.” 

“ That is close work, chief — where was the trail ? ” 

The Mohican pointed to a spot not a hundred yards distant 
from that where they stood. 

The matter now began to look very serious, and the two 
principal guides conferred apart for several minutes, when both 
ascended the bank, approached the indicated spot, and exam- 
ined the trail with the utmost care. After this investigation 
had lasted a quarter of an hour, the white man returned alone, 
his red friend having disappeared in the forest. 

The ordinary expression of the countenance of the Path- 
finder was that of simplicity, integrity, and sincerity, blended 
in an air of self-reliance, that usually gave great confidence to 
those who found themselves under his care ; but now a look of 
concern cast a shade over his honest face, that struck the whole 
party, 

“ What cheer, Master Pathfinder ? ” demanded Cap, permit- 
ting a voice that was usually deep, and loud, and confident, to 
sink into the cautious tones that better suited the dangers of 
the wilderness ; “ has the enemy got between us and oui 
port?” 

“ Anan ? ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


43 


“ Have any of these painted scaramouches anchored off tht 
harbor toward which we are running, with the hope of cutting 
us off in entering ? ” 

“ It may be all as you say, friend Cap, but I am none the 
wiser for your words ; and, in ticklish time, the plainer a man 
makes his English, the easier he is understood. I know noth- 
ing of ports and anchors, but there is a direful Mingo trail 
within a hundred yards M this very spot, and as fresh as venison 
without salt. If one of the fiery devils has passed, so have a 
dozen ; and what is worse, they have gone down toward the 
garrison, and not a soul crosses the clearing around it that 
some of their piercing -•.yes will not discover, when sartain 
bullets will follow. 

“ Cannot this said fort deliver a broadside, and clear every- 
thing within the sweep of its haw^se 1 ” 

“ Nay, the forts this-a-way are not like forts in the settle- 
ments, and t\vo or three light cannon are all they have down 
at the mouth of the river ; and then, broadsides fired at a dozen 
outlying Mingoes, lying behind logs and in a forest, would be 
powder spent in vain. We have but one course, and that is a 
very nice one. We are judgmatically placed here, both canoes 
being hid by the high bank and bushes, from all eyes except 
them of any lurker directly opposite. Here, then, we may stay, 
without much present fear ; but how to get the bloodthirsty 
devils up the stream again ? Ha ! I have it — I have it. If it does 
no good, it can do no harm. Do you see the wide-top chest- 
nut, here, Jasper, at the last turn in the river } On our own 
side of the stream, I mean.” 

“ That near the fallen pine ? ” 

“ The very same. Take the flint and tinder-box, creep 
along the bank, and light a fire at that spot ; maybe the smoke 
will draw them above us. 'In the meanwhile, we will drop the 
canoes carefully down beyond the point below, and find an- 
other shelter. Bushes are plenty, and covers are easy to be 
had in this region, as witness the many ambushments.” 

“ I will, do it Pathfinder,” said Jasper, springing to the shore. 

In ten minutes the fire shall be lighted.” 

And, Eau-douce, use plenty of damp wood this time,” half 
whispered the other laughing heartily, in his own peculiar man 
ner — “ when smoke is wanted, water helps to thicken it.” 

The young man, who too well understood his duty to delay 
unnecessarily, was soon off, making his way rapidly toward the 
desired point. A slight attempt of Mabel to object to the risk 
was disregarded, and the party immediately prepared to change 


♦4 


THE PATHFINDER. 


its position, as it could be seen from the place where Jaspet/ 
intended to light his fire. The movement did not require haste, 
and it was made leisurely, and with care. The canoes were 
got clear of the bushes, then suffered to drop down with the 
stream, until they reached the spot where the chestnut, at the 
foot of which Jasper was to light the fire, was almost shut out 
from view, when they stopped, and every eye was turned in 
the direction of the adventurer. 

“ There goes the smoke ! ” exclaimed the Pathfinder, as a 
current of air whirled a little column of the vapor from the 
land, allowing it to rise spirally above the bed of the river. 
“ A good flint, a small bit of steel, and plenty of dry leaves, 
make a quick fire ; I hope Eau-douce will have the wit to 
bethink him of the damp wood, now, when it may serve us all 
a good turn.” 

“ Too much smoke — too much cunning,” said Arrowhead 
sententiously. 

“ That is gospel truth, Tuscarora, if the Mingoes didn’t 
know that they are near soldiers ; but soldiers commonly think 
more of their dinner, at a halt, than of their wisdom and danger. 
No, no, let the boy pile on his logs, and smoke them well too ; 
it will all be laid to the stupidity of some Scotch or Irish 
plunderer, who is thinking more of his oatmeal or potatoes than 
of Injin sarcumventions- or Injin rifles.” 

“And yet I should think, from all we have heard in the 
towns, that the soldiers on this frontier are used to the artifices 
of their enemies,” said Mabel ; “ and have got to be almost as 
wily as the red men themselves.” 

“ Not they — not they. Experience makes them but little 
wiser ; and they wheel, and platoon, and battalion it about, 
here in the forest, just as they did in their parks at home, of 
which they are all so fond of talking. One red-skin has more 
cunning in his natur’ than a whole rejiment from the other side 
of the water — that is what I call cunning of the woods- But 
there is smoke enough, of all conscience, and we had better 
drop into another cover. The lad has thrown the river on his 
fire, and there is danger that the Mingoes will believe a whole 
rijiment is out.” 

While speaking, the Pathfinder permitted his canoe to drift 
away from the bush by which it had been retained, and in a 
couple of minutes the bend in the river concealed the smoke 
and the tree. Fortunately a small indentation in the shore pre- 
cented itself within a few yards of the point they had just passed ; 


THE PATHFINDER. 


45 

and the two canoes glided into it, under the impulsion of the 
paddles. 

A better spot could not have been found for the purpose of 
the travellers, than the one they now occupied. The bushes 
were thick, and overhung the water, forming a complete canopy 
of leaves. There was a small gravelly strand at the bottom of 
the little bay, where most of the party landed to be more at 
their ease, and the only position from which they could possibly 
be seen was a point of the river directly opposite. There was 
little danger, however, of discovery from that quarter, as the 
thicket there was even denser than common, and the land be 
yond it was so wet and marshy as to render it difficult to be 
trodden. 

“ This is a safe cover,” said the Pathfinder, after he had 
taken a scrutinizing survey of his position; “but it may be 
neccesary to make it safer. Master Cap, I ask nothing of you 
but silence, and a quieting of such gifts as you may have got at 
sea, while the Tuscarora and. I make provision for the evil 
hour.” 

The guide then went a short distance into the bushes, ac- 
companied by the Indian, where the two cut off the larger stems 
of several alders and other bushes, using the utmost care not 
to make a noise. The ends of these little trees, for such, in 
fact, they were, were forced into the mud, outside of the 
canoes, the depth of the water being very trifling ; and in the 
course of ten minutes a very effectual screen was interposed 
between them and the principal point of danger. Much 
ingenuity and readiness were manifested in making this simple 
arrangement, in which the two workmen were essentially favored 
by the natural formation of the bank, the indentation of the 
shore, the shallowness of the water, and the manner in which 
the tangled bushes dipped into the stream. The Pathfinder 
had the address to look for bushes that had curved stems, things 
easily found in such a place : and, by cutting them some distance 
beneath the bend, and permitting the latter to touch the water, 
the artificial little thicket had not the appearance of growing in 
the stream, which might have excited suspicion ; but one pass- 
ing it would have thought that the bushes shot out horizontally 
from the bank before they inclined upward toward the light. 
In short, the shelter was so cunningly devised, and so artfully 
prepared, that none but an unusually distrustful eye would have 
been turned for an instant toward the spot in quest of a hiding- 
place. 

“ This is the best cover I ever yet got into,” said the Path- 


THE PATHFINDER. 


46 

finder, with his quiet laugh, after having been on the outside ta 
reconnoitre ; “ the leaves of our new trees fairly touch the 
bushes over our heads, and even the painter who has been in 
the garrison of late could not tell which belong to Prov> 
dence and which are ourn. Hist ! yonder comes Eau-douoe, 
wading, like a sensible boy as he is, to leave his trail in tjie 
water ; and we shall soon see whether our cover is good £01 
anything or not.’' 

Jasper had, indeed, returned from his duty above, and miss* 
ing the canoes, he at once inferred that they had dropped 
round the next bend in the river, in order to get out of sight 
of the fire. His habits of caution immediately suggested the 
expediency of stepping into the water, in order that there 
might exist no visible communication between the marks left 
on the shore by the party and the place where he believed 
them to have taken refuge below. Should the Canadian Indians 
return on their own trail, and discover that made by the Path- 
finder and the Serpent, in their ascent from, and descent to, 
the river, the clew to their movements would cease at the shore, 
water leaving no prints of footsteps. The young man had 
therefore waded, knee-deep, as far as the point, and was now 
seen making his way slowly down the margin of the stream, 
searching curiously for the spot in which che canoes were hid. 

It was in the power of those behind the bushes, by placing 
their eyes near the leaves, to find many places to look through, 
while one at a little distance lost this advantage ; or, even did 
his sight happen to fall on some small opening, the bank and 
the shadows beyond prevented him from detecting forms and 
outlines of sufficient dimensions to expose the fugitives. It 
was evident to those who watched his motions from behind 
their cover, and they were all in the canoes, that Jasper was 
totally at a loss to imagine where the Pathfinder had secreted 
himself. When fairly round the curvature in the shore, and 
out of sight of the fire he had lighted above, the young man 
stopped and began examining the bank deliberately and with 
great care. Occasionally he advanced eight or ten paces, and 
then halted again, to renew the search. The water being much 
shoaler than common, he stepped aside, in order to walk with 
greater ease to himself, and came so near the artificial plan 
tation that he might have touched it with his hand. Still he 
detected nothing, and was actually passing the spot, when Path- 
finder made an opening beneath the branches, and called to 
him, in a low voice, to enter. 

“This is pretty well,” said the Pathfinder, laughing-, 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


47 

“ though paleface eyes and redskin eyes are as different as 
human spy-glasses. I would wager with the sergeant’s daughter, 
here, a horn of powder agin a wampum-belt for her girdle, that 
her father’s rijiment should march by this ambushment of ourn, 
and never find out the fraud ! But, if the Mingoes actilly get 
down into the bed of the river, where Jasper passed, I should 
tremble for the plantation. It will do for their eyes even across 
the stream, howsever, and will not be without its use.” 

“ Don’t you think. Master Pathfinder, that it would be wisest 
after all,” said Cap, “ to get under way at once, and carry sail 
hard down- stream, as soon as we are satisfied these rascals are 
fairly astern of us ? We seamen call a stern chase a long 
chase.” 

“ I wouldn’t move from this spot until we hear from the 
Sarpent, with the sergeant’s pretty daughter, here, in our 
company, for all the powder in the magazine of the fort below ! 
Sartain captivity or sartain death would follow. If a tender 
fa’n, such as the maiden we have in charge, could thread the 
forest like old deer, it might, indeed, do to quit the canoes, 
for by making a circuit we could reach the garrison before 
morning.” 

“ Then let it be done,” said Mabel, springing to her feet, 
under the sudden impulse of awakened energy. “ I am young, 
active, used to exercise, and could easily outwalk my dear uncle. 
Let no one think me a hinderance. I cannot bear that all your 
lives should be exposed on my account.” 

“ No, no, pretty one ; we think you anything but a hinder- 
ance, or anything that is onbecoming, and would willingly run 
twice this risk to do you and the honest sergeant a service. Do 
I not speak your mind, Eau-douce ? ” 

“ To do her a service ! ” said Jasper, with emphasis. “ Noth- 
ing shall tempt me to desert Mabel Dunham, until she is safe 
in her father’s arms.” 

“ Well said, lad ; bravely and honestly said, too ; and I 
join in it, heart and hand. No, no ; you are not the first of 
)^oiir sex I have led through the wilderness, and never but once 
did any harm befall any of them — that was a sad day, sartainly ; 
but its like may never come again ! ” 

Mabel looked from one of her protectors to the other, and 
her fine eyes swam in tears. Frankly placing a hand in that of 
each, she answered them, though at first her voice was choked ; 

I have no right to expose you on my account. My dear 
father will thank you — I thank you — God will reward you — but 
let there be no unnecessary risk. I can walk far, and have 


THE PATHFINDER. 


4S 

often gone miles, on some girlish fancy ; why not now exert 
myself for my life — nay, for your precious lives ?” 

“She is a true dove, Jasper,” said the Pathfinder, neither 
relinquishing the hand he held until the girl herself, in native 
modesty, saw fit tO' withdraw it, “and wonderfully winning! 
We get to be rough, and sometimes even hard-hearted, in the 
woods, Mabel ; but the sight of one like you brings us back 
agin to our young feelin’s and does us good for the remainder 
of our days. I dare say Jasper, here, will tell you the same ; 
for, like me in the forest, the lad sees but few such as yourself, 
on Ontario, to soften his heart, and remind him of love for his 
kind. Speak out, now, Jasper, and say if it is not so.” 

“ I question if many like Mabel Dunham are to be found 
anywhere,” returned the young man, gallantly, an honest sin- 
cerity glowing in his face, that spoke more eloquently than his 
tongue ; “ you need not mention woods and lakes to chal- 
lenge her equals, but I would go into the settlements and 
towns.” 

“ We had better leave the canoes,” Mabel hurriedly rejoined; 
“ for I feel it is no longer safe to be here.” 

“ You can never do it — you can never do it. It would be a 
march of more than twenty miles, and that, too, of tiamping 
over brush and roots, and through swamps, in the dark ; the 
trail of such a path would be wide, and we might have to fight 
our way into the garrison after all. We will wait for the 
Mohican.” 

Such appearing to be the decision of him to whom all, in 
their present strait, looked up for counsel, no more was said 
on the subject The whole party now broke up into groups ; 
Arrowhead and his wife sitting apart under the bushes con- 
versing in a low tone, though the man spoke sternly, and the 
woman answered with the subdued mildness that marks the 
degraded condition of a savage’s wife. Pathfinder and Cap 
occupied one canoe, chatting of their different adventures by 
sea and land, while Jasper and Mabel sat in the other, making 
greater progress in intimacy in a single hour than might have 
been effected under other circumstances in a twelvemonth. 
Notwithstanding t-heir situation as regards the enemy, the time 
flew by swiftly, and the young people in particular were as- 
tonished when Cap informed them how long they had been 
thus occupied. 

“ If one could smoke. Master Pathfinder,” observed the old 
sailor, “ this berth would be snug enough ; for, to give the 
devil his due, you have got the canoes handsomely landlocked^ 


THE PATHFINDER. 


4a 


and into moorings that would defy a monsoon. The only hard 
ship is the denial of the pipe.” 

“ The scent of the tobacco would betray us, and where is 
the use of taking all these precautions against the Mingoes’ 
eyes if we are to tell them where the cover is to be found through 
the nose ? No — no — deny your appetites, and learn one vartue 
trom a redskin, who will pass a week without eating even, to get 
a single scalp. Did you hear nothing, Jasper ? ” 

‘* The Serpent is coming.” 

“ Then let us see if Mohican eyes are better than them of a 
lad who follows the water.” 

The Mohican made his appearance in the same direction as 
that by which Jasper had rejoined his friends. Instead of 
coming directly on, however, no sooner did he pass the bend, 
where he was concealed from any who might be higher up- 
stream, than he moved close under the bank, and, using the 
utmost caution, got a position where he could look back, with 
his person sufficiently concealed by the bushes to prevent its 
being seen by any in that quarter. 

“ The Sarpent sees the knaves ! ” whispered Pathfinder — 
as I am a Christian white man they have bit at the. bait, and 
ambushed the smoke ! ” 

Here a hearty but silent laugh Interrupted his words, and, 
nudging Cap with his elbow, they all continued to watch the 
movements of Chingachgook in profound stillness. The Mo- 
hican remained stationary as the rock on which he stood, fully 
ten minutes ; then it was apparent that something of interest 
had occurred within his view, for he drew back with a hurried 
manner, looked anxiously and keenly along the margin of the 
stieam, and moved quickly down it, taking care to lose his trail 
in the shallow water. He was evidently in a hurry, and con- 
cerned, now looking behind him, and then casting eager glances 
towards every spot on the shore where he thought a canoe 
might be concealed. 

“ Call him in,” whispered Jasper, scarce able io restrain his 
impatience — “ call him in, or it will be too late. See, he is 
actually passing us.” 

“ Not so — not so, lad ; nothing presses, depend on it,” re 
turned his companion, “ or the Sarpent would begin to creep. 
The Lord help us, and teach us wisdom ! I do believe even 
Chingachgook, whose sight is as faithful as the hound’s scent, 
overlooks us, and will not find out the ambushment we have 
made ! ” 

This exultation was untimely, for the words were no soonei 


THE PATHFINDER. 


5 ^ 

spoken, than the Indian, who had actually got several fees 
lower down the stream than the artificial cover, suddenly 
stopped, fastened a keen riveted glance among the transplanted 
bushes, made a few hasty steps backward, and, bending his 
body and carefully separating the branches, he appeared among 
them. 

“ The accursed Mingoes ! ” said Pathfinder, as soon as his 
friend was near enough to be addressed with prudence. 

“ Iroquois,” returned the sententious Indian. 

“ No matter — no matter — Iroquois — devil — Mingoes — 
Mengwes, or furies — all are pretty much the same. I call all 
rascals Mingoes. Come hither, chief, and let us convarse 
rationally. ’ 

The two then stepped aside, and conversed earnestly in the 
dialect of the Delawares. When their private communication 
was over. Pathfinder rejoined the rest, and made them ac- 
quainted with all he had learned. 

The Mohican had followed the trail of their enemies some 
distance toward the fort, until the latter caught a sight of the 
smoke of Jasper’s fire, when they instantly retraced their steps. 
It now became necessary for Chingachgook, who ran the 
greatest risk of detection, to find a cover where he could secrete 
himself until the party might pass. It was, perhaps, fortunate 
for him that the savages were so intent on this recent discovery, 
that they did not bestow the ordinary attention on the signs of 
the forest. At all events, they passed him swiftly, fifteen in 
number, treading lightly in each other’s footsteps : and he was 
enabled again to get into their rear. After proceeding to the 
place where the footsteps of Pathfinder and the Mohican joined 
the principal trail, the Iroquois had struck off to the river, 
which they reached just as Jasper disappeared behind the bend 
below. The smoke being now in plain view, the savages 
plunged into the woods, and endeavored to aporoach the fire 
unseen. Chingachgook profited by this occasion to descend to 
the water, and to gain the bend in the river also, which he 
thought nad been effected undiscovered. Here he paused, as 
has been stated, until he saw his enemies at the fire, where 
their stay, however, was very short. 

Of the motives of the Iroquois, the Mohican could judge only 
by their acts. He thought they had detected the artifice of 
the fire, and were aware that it had been kindled with a view 
to mislead them ; for, after a hasty examination of the spot, 
th(;y separated, some plunging again into the woods, while six 
or eight followed the footsteps of Jasper along the shore, and 


THE PATHFINDER. 


S‘ 

came down the stream toward the place where the canoes had 
landed. What course they might take on reaching that spot, was 
only to be conjectured, for the Serpent had felt the emergency 
to be too pressing to delay looking for his friends any longer. 
From some indications that were to be gathered from theii 
gestures, however, he thought it probable that their enemies 
might follow down in the margin of the stream, but could not 
be certain. 

As the Pathfinder related these facts to his companions, 
the professional feelings of the two other white men came upper- 
most, and both naturally reverted to their habits, in quest of 
the means of escape. 

“ Let us run out the canoes at once,” said Jasper, eagerly; 
the current is strong, and by using the paddles vigorously 
we shall soon be beyond the reach of these scoundrels.” 

“ And this poor flower that first blossomed in the clearin’s 
• — shall it wither in the forest ” objected his friend, with a 
poetry that he had unconsciously imbibed by his long associa- 
tion with the Delawares. 

‘‘ We must all die first,” answered the youth, a generous 
color mounting to his temples ; “ Mabel and Arrowhead’s wife 
may lie down in the canoes, while we do our duty, like men, 
on our feet.” 

“ Ay, you are actyve at the paddle and the oar, Eau-douce, 
I will allow, but an accursed Mingo is more actyve at his mis- 
chief ; the canoes are swift, but a rifle bullet is swifter.” 

“ It is the business of men, engaged as we have been by 
a confiding father, to run this risk ” 

“But it is not their business to overlook prudence.” 

“ Prudence ! a man may carry his prudence so far as to for- 
get his courage.” 

The group was standing on the narrow strand, the Pathfinder 
leaning on his rifle, the butt of which rested on the gravelly 
beach, while both his hands clasped the barrel, at the height of 
his own shoulders. As Jasper threw out this severe and un 
merited imputation, the deep red of his comrade’s face main- 
tained its hue unchanged, though the young man perceived 
that the fingers grasped the iron of the gun with the tenacity 
of a vice. Here all betrayal of emotion ceased. 

“ You are young and hot-headed,” returned the Pathfinder, 
with a dignity that impressed his listener with a keen sense of 
his moral superiority ; “ but my life has been passed among 
dangers of this sort and my experience and gifts are not to be 
mastered by the impatience of a boy. As for courage, Jasper, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


52 

I will not send back an angry and unmeaning word, to meet 
an angry and an unmeaning word, for I know that you are true, 
in your station and according to your knowledge ; but take the 
advice of one who faced the Mingoes when you were a chiic^ 
and know that their cunning is easier sarcum vented by prudence 
than outwitted by foolishness.’^ 

‘"I ask your pardon Pathfinder,” said the repentant Jasper, 
eagerly grasping the hand that the other permitted him to seize; 

I ask your pardon humbly and sincerely. ’Twas a foolish 
as well as wicked thing to hint of a man whose heart, in a good 
cause, is as firm as the rocks on the lake shore.” 

For the first time the color deepened on the cheek of the 
Pathfinder, and the solemn dignity that he had assumed, under 
a purely natural impulse, disappeared in the expression of the 
earnest simplicity that was inherent in all his feelings. He 
met the grasp of his young frieiid with a squeeze as cordial as 
if no chord had jarred between them and a slight sternness 
that had gathered about his eye aisappeared in a look of nat- 
ural kindness. 

“’Tis well, Jasper, ’tis well,” he answered, laughing. “I 
bear no ill-will, nor shall any one in my behalf. My natur’ is 
that of a white man, and that is to bear no malice. It might 
have been ticklish work to have said half as much to the Sar« 
pent here, though he is a Delaware — for color will have its 
way ” 

A touch on his shoulder caused the speaker to cease. Mabel 
was standing erect in the canoe, her light but swelling form 
bent forward in an attitude of graceful earnestness, her finger 
on her lips, her head averted, the spirited eyes riveted on an 
opening in the bushes, and one arm extended with a fishing 
rod, the end of which had touched the Pathfinder. The latter 
bowed his head to a level with a lookout near which he had 
intentionally kept himself, and then whispered to Jasper : 

“ The accursed Mingoes ! Stand to your arms, my men, but 
lay as the corpses of dead trees ! ” 

Jasper advanced rapidly but noiseless to the canoe, and 
with a gentle violence induced Mabel to place herself in such 
an attitude as concealed her entire body, though it would have 
probably exceeded his means to induce the girl so far to lower 
her head that she could not keep her gaze fastened on their ene- 
mies. He then took his own post near her, with his rifle cocked 
and poised, in readiness to fire. Arrowhead and Chingachgook 
crawled to the cover, and lay in wait like snakes, with their 
arms prepared for service, while the wife of the former bowed 


THE PATHFINDER^ 


53 

her head between her knees, covered it with her calico robe, 
and remained passive and immovable. Cap loosened both hi? 
pistols in their belt, but seemed quite at a loss what course to 
pursue. The Pathfinder did not stir. He had originally got 
a position where he might aim with deadly effect through the 
leaves, and where he could watch the movements of his enemies ; 
and he was far too steady to be disconcerted at a moment so 
critical. 

It was truly an alarming instant. Just as Mabel touched 
the shoulder of her guide, three of the Iroquois appeared in 
the water, at the bend of the river, within a hundred yards of 
the cover, and halted to examine the stream below. They 
were all naked to the waist, armed for an expedition against 
their foes, and in their war-paint. It was apparent that they 
were undecided as to the course they ought to pursue, in order 
to find the fugitives. One pointed down the river, a second up 
the stream, and the third toward the opposite bank. 


CHAPTER V. 

** Death is here and death is there, 

Death is busy everywhere.” 

—Shelley. 

It was a breathless moment. The only clue the fugitives 
possessed to the intentions of their pursuers was in their ges- 
tures and the indications that escaj^ed them in the fury of dis- 
appointment. That a party had returned already on their own 
footsteps, by land, was pretty certain ; and all the benefit ex- 
pected from the artifice of the fire was necessarily lost. But 
that consideration became of little moment, just then, for the 
secreted were menaced with an immediate discovery by those 
who had kept on a level with the river. All the facts presented 
themselves clearly, and as it might be by intuition, to the mind 
of Pathfinder, who perceived the necessity of immediate decis- 
ion, and of being in readiness to act in concert. Without mak- 
ing any noise, therefore, he managed to get the tw^o Indians 
and Jasper near him, when he opened his communications in a 
whisper. 

“ We must be ready — we must be ready,” he said. “ There 


THE PATHFINDER. 


S4 

are but three of the scalping devils, and we are five, four of 
whom may be set down as manful warriors for such a scrim- 
mage. Eau-douce, do you take the fellow that is painted like 
death; Chingachgook, I give you the chief; and Arrowhead 
must keep his eye on the young one. There must be no mis- 
take ; for two bullets in the same body would be sinful waste, 
with one like the sergeant’s daughter in danger. I shall hold 
myself in reserve ag’in accidents, lest a fourth riptyle appear, 
for one of your hands may prove onsteady. By no means fire 
until I give the word ; we must not let the crack of the rifle be 
heard except in the last resort, since all the rest of the mis- 
creants are still within hearing. Jasper, boy, in case of any 
movement behind us, on the bank, I trust to you to run out the 
canoe, with the sergeant’s daughter, and to pull for the garrison, 
by God’s leave.” 

The Pathfinder had no sooner given these directions than 
the near approach of their enemies rendered profound silence 
necessary. The Iroquois in the river were slowly descending 
the stream, keeping of necessity near the bushes that overhung 
the water, while the rustling of leaves and the snapping of 
twigs soon gave fearful evidence that another party w^as moving 
along the bank at an equally graduated pace, and directly 
abreast of them. In consequence of the distance between the 
bushes planted by the fugitives and the true shore, the two par- 
ties became visible to each other, when opposite that precise 
point. Both stopped, and a conversation ensued, that may be 
said to have passed directly over the heads of those who were 
concealed. Indeed, nothing sheltered the travellers but the 
branches and leaves of plants so pliant, that they yielded to 
every current of air, and which a puff of wind, a little stronger 
than common, would have blown away. Fortunately, the line 
of sight carried the eyes of the two parties of savages, whetner 
they stood in the water or on the land, above the bushes ; and 
the leaves appeared blended in a way to excite no suspicion. 
Perhaps the very boldness of the expedient prevented an ex- 
posure. The conversation that took place was conducted ear- 
nestly, but in guarded tones, as if those who spoke wished to 
defeat the intentions of any listeners. It was in a dialect that 
both the Indian warriors beneath, as well as the Pathfinder, 
understood. Even Jasper comprehended a portion of what was 
said. 

“ The trail is washed away by the water ! ” said one from 
below, who stood so near the artificial cover of the fugitives 
that he might have been struck by the salmon spear that lay in 


THE PA THFINDER, 


SS 

the bottom of Jasper’s canoe. “ Water has washed it so clear, 
that a Yengeese hound could not follow.” 

“The palefaces have left the shore in their canoes,” ar> 
swered the speaker on the bank. 

“ It cannot be. The rifles of our warriors below are cet- 
tain.” 

The Pathfinder gave a significant glance at Jasper, and he 
clinched his teeth in order to suppress the sound of his own 
breathing. 

“ Let my young men look as if their eyes were eagles,” said 
the eldest warrior among those who were wading in the river. 

We have been a whole moon on the warpath, and have found 
but one scalp. There is a maiden among them, and some of 
our braves want wives.” 

Happily these words were lost on Mabel, but Jasper’s frown 
became deeper, and his face fiercely flushed. 

The savages now ceased speaking, and the party that was 
concealed heard the slow and guarded movements of those who 
were on the bank, as they pushed the bushes aside in their wary 
progress. It was soon evident that the latter had passed the 
cover ; but the group in the water still remained, scanning the 
shore with eyes that glared through their war paint like coals 
of living fire. After a pause of two or three minutes, these 
three began also to descend the stream, though it was step by 
step, as men move who look for an object that has been lost. 
In this manner they passed the artificial screen, and Pathfinder 
opened his mouth, in that hearty but noiseless laugh that 
nature and habit had contributed to render a peculiarity of the 
man. His triumph, however, was premature ; for the last of the 
retiring party, just at this moment casting a look behind him, 
suddenly stopped, and his fixed attitude and steady gaze at 
once betrayed the appalling fact that some neglected bush had 
awakened his suspicions. 

It was, perhaps, fortunate for the concealed, that the war* 
rior who manifested these fearful signs of distrust was young, 
and had still a reputation to acquire. He knew the importance 
of discretion and modesty in one of his years, and most of all 
did he dread the ridicule and contempt that would certainly 
follow a false alarm. Without recalling any of his companions, 
therefore, he turned on his own footsteps, and while the others 
continued to descend the river, he cautiously approached the 
bushes, on which his looks were still fastened, as by a charm. 
Some of the leaves which were exposed to the sun had drooped 
a little, and this slight departure from the usual natural laws 


THE PATHFINDER. 


$6 

had caught the quick eyes of the Indian ; for so practised and 
acute do the senses of the savage become, more especially 
when he is on the war-path, that trifles apparently of the most 
insignificant sort often prove to be clews to lead him to his ob 
ject. The trifling nature of the change which had aroused the 
suspicion of this youth was an additional motive for not acquaint- 
ing his companions with his discovery. Should he really detect 
anything his glory would be the greater for being unshared ; 
should he not, he might hope to escape that derision which the 
young Indian so much dreads. Then there were the dangers 
of an ambush and a surprise to which every warrior of the 
woods is keenly alive, to render his approach slow and cautious. 
In consequence of the delay that proceeded from these com- 
bined causes, the two parties had descended some fifty or sixty 
yards before the young savage was again near enough to the 
bushes of the Pathfinder to touch them with his hand. 

Notwithstanding their critical situation, the whole party be- 
hind the cover had their eyes fastened on the working coun- 
tenance of the young Iroquois, who was agitated by conflicting 
feelings. First came the eager hope of obtaining success where 
some of the "jt experienced of his tribe had failed, and with 
it a degree of glory that had seldom fallen to the share of one 
of his years, or a brave on his warpath ; then followed doubts, 
as the drooping leaves seemed to rise again, and to revive in 
the currents of air ; and distrust of hidden danger lent its ex- 
cited feeling to keep the eloquent features in play. So very 
slight, however, had been the alteration produced by the heat 
on bushes of which the stems were in the water, that when the 
Iroquois actually laid his hand on the leaves, he fancied that 
he had been deceived. As no man ever distrusts strongly, with- 
out using all convenient means of satisfying his doubts, however, 
the young warrior cautiously pushed aside the branches, and 
advanced a step within the hiding-place, when the forms of the 
concealed party met his gaze, resembling so many breathless 
statues. The low exclamation, the slight start, and the glar- 
ing eye, were hardly seen and heard, before the arm of Chin* 
gachgook was raised, and the tomahawk of the Delaware de- 
scended on the shaven head of his foe. The Iroquois raised 
his hands frantically, bounded backward, and fell into the 
water at a pot where the current swept the body away, the 
struggling limbs still tossing and writhing in the agony of 
death. The Delaware made a vigorous but unsuccessful at- 
tempt to seize an arm, with the hope of securing the scalp, but 


THE PATHFINDER. 


57 

the blood-stained waters whirled down the current, carrying 
with them their quivering burden. 

All this passed in less than a minute ; and the events were 
so sudden and unexpected, that men less accustomed than 
Pathfinder and his associates to forest warfare would have been 
at a loss how to act. 

“There is not a moment to lose,” said Jasper, tearing aside 
the bushes, as he spoke earnestly, but in a suppressed voice. 

Do as I do. Master Cap, if you would save your niece ; and 
you, Mabel, lie at your length in the canoe.” 

The words were scarcely uttered when, seizing the bow of the 
light boat, he dragged it along the shore, wading himself while 
Cap aided behind, keeping so near the bank as to avoid being 
seen by the savages below, and striving to gain the turn in the 
river above him, which would effectually conceal the party from 
the enemy. The Pathfinder’s canoe lay nearest to the bank, 
and it was necessarily the last to quit the shore. The Dela- 
ware leaped on the narrow strand, and plunged into the forest, 
it being his assigned duty to watch the foe in that quarter, 
while Arrowhead motioned to his white companion to seize the 
bow of the boat, and to follow Jasper. All this' was the work 
of an instant. But when the Pathfinder reached the current 
that was sweeping round the turn, he felt a sudden change in 
the weight he was dragging, and looking back he found that both 
the Tuscarora and his wife had deserted him. The thought of 
treachery flashed upon his mind, but there was no time to 
pause ; for the wailing shout that arose from the party be- 
low, proclaimed that the body of the young Iroquois had 
floated as low as the spot reached by his friends. The re- 
port of a rifle followed ; and then the guide saw that Jasper, 
having doubled the bend in the river, was crossing the 
stream, standing erect in the stern of the canoe, while Cap 
was seated forward, both propelling the light boat with vigor- 
ous strokes of the paddles. A glance, a thought, and an ex- 
pedient, followed each other quickly, in one so trained in the 
vicissitudes of the frontier warfare. Springing into the stern of 
his own canoe, he urged it by a vigorous shove into the current, 
and commenced crossing the stream himself, at a point so much 
lower than that of his companions, as to offer his own person 
for a target to the enemy, well knowing that their keen desire 
to secure a scalp would control all other feelings. 

“Keepwell up the current, Jasper,” shouted the gallant 
guide, as he swept the water with long, steady, vigorous strokes 
of the paddle — “ keep well up the current, and pull for the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


58 

alder bushes opposite. Presarve the sergeant’s daughter b& 
fore all things, and leave the Mingo knaves to the Sarpent and 
me.” 

Jasper flourished his paddle as a signal of understanding, 
while shot succeeded shot in quick succession, all now being 
aimed at the solitary man in the nearest canoe. 

“ Ah, empty your rifles, like simpletons, as you be,” said 
the Pathfinder, who had acquired a habit of speaking when 
alone, from passing so much of his time in the solitude of the 
forest ; “ empty your rifles with an onsteady aim, and give me 
a chance to put yard upon yard of river atween us. I will not 
revile you, like a Delaware or a Mohican, for my gifts are a 
white man’s gifts, and not an In jin’s ; and boasting in battle 
is no part of a Christian warrior ; but I may say, here, all alone 
by myself, that you are a little better than so many men from 
the town, shooting at robins in the orchards ! That was well- 
meant,” throwing back his head, as a rifle-bullet cut a lock of 
hair from his temple — “ but the lead that misses by an inch is 
as useless as the lead that never quits the barrel. Bravely 
done, Jasper! the sergeant’s sweet child must be saved, even 
if we go in without our owm scalps.” 

By this time the Pathfinder was in the centre of the river, 
and almost abreast of his enemies, while the other canoe, im- 
pelled by the vigorous arms of Cap and Jasper, had nearly 
gained the opposite shore at the precise spot that had been 
pointed out to them. The old mariner now played his part 
manfully ; for he was on his proper element, loved his niece 
sincerely, had a proper regard for his own person, and was not 
unused to fire, though his experience certainly lay in a very 
different species of warfare. A few strokes of the paddle w^ere 
given, and the canoe shot into the bushes, Mabel was hurried 
to land by Jasper, and for the present, all three of the fugitives 
were safe. 

Not so with Pathfinder. His hardy self-devotion had 
brought him into a situation of unusual exposure, the hazards 
of which were much increased by the fact that just as he drifted 
nearest to the enemy, the party on the shore rushed down the 
bank, and joined their friends who stood still in the water. 
The Oswego was about a cable’s length in width at this point, 
and the canoe being in the centre, the object was only a hun- 
dred yards from the rifles that were constantly discharged at 
it, or at the usual target distance for that weapon. 

In this extremity the steadiness and skill of the Pathfinder 
*d him good service. He knew that his safety depended ah 


THE PATHFINDER. 


59 

together in keeping in motion ; for a stationary object, at that 
distance, would have been hit nearly every shot. Nor was mo- 
tion itself sufficient ; for, accustomed to kill the bounding deer, 
his enemies probably knew how to vary the line of aim so as to 
strike him, should he continue to move in any one direction. He 
was consequently compelled to change the course of the canoe, 
at one moment shooting down with the current, with the swift 
aess of an arrow, and at the next checking its progress in that 
direction, to glance athwart the stream. Luckily the Iroquois 
could not reload their pieces in the water, and the bushes that 
everywhere fringed the shore rendered it difficult to keep the 
fugitive in view when on the land. Aided by these circum- 
stances, and having received the fire of all his foes, the Path- 
finder was gaining fast in distance, both downward and across 
the current, when a new danger suddenly, if not unexpectedly, 
presented itself by the appearance of the party that had been 
left in ambush below, with a view to watch the river. 

These were the savages alluded to in the short dialogue 
that has been already related. They were no less than ten in 
number, and, understanding all the advantages'of their bloody 
occupation, they had posted themselves at a spot where the 
water dashed among rocks and over shallows, in a way to form 
a rapid, which, in the language of the country, is called a rift. 
The Pathfinder saw that if he entered this rift he should be 
compelled to approach a point where the Iroquois had posted 
themselves, for the current was irresistible, and the rocks allow- 
ed no other safe passage, while death or captivity would be the 
probable result of the attempt. All his efforts, therefore, were 
turned toward reaching the western shore, the foe being all on 
the eastern side of the river. But the exploit surpassed human 
power, and to attempt to stem the stream would at once have 
so far diminished the motion gf the canoe as to render aim 
certain. In this exigency the guide came to a decision with his 
usual cool promptitude, making his preparations accordingly. 
Instead of endeavoring to gain the channel, he steered toward 
the shallowest part of the stream, on reaching which he seized 
his rifle and pack, leaped into the water, and began to wade 
from rock to rock, taking the direction of the western shore. 
The canoe whirled about in the furious current, now rolling over 
some slippery stone, now filling, and then emptying itself, until 
it lodged on the shore, within a few yards of the spot where the 
Iroquois had posted themselves. 

In the meanwhile the Pathfinder was far from being out of 
danger \ for the first minute, admiration of his promptitude and 


6o 


THE PATHFINDER. 


daring, which are high virtues in the mind of an Indian, kept 
his enemies motionless ; but the desire of revenge, and the 
cravings for the much-prized trophy, soon overcame this tran- 
sient feeling, and aroused them from their stupor. Rifle flashed 
after rifle, and the bullets whistled around the head of the iu< 
gitive, amid the roar of the waters. Still he proceeded likr 
one who bore a charmed life, for while his rude irontier gar 
ments were more than once cut, his skin was not razed. 

As the Pathfinder, in several instances, was compelled to 
wade in water that rose nearly to his arms, whiie he kept his 
rifle and ammunition elevated above the raging current, tne 
toil soon fatigued him, and he was glad to stop at a large stone, 
or a small rock, which rose so high above the river that its 
upper surface was dry. On this stone he placed his powder- 
horn, getting behind it himself, so as to have the advantage 
of a partial cover for his body. The western shore was only 
fifty feet distant, but the quiet, swift, dark current that glanced 
through the interval, sufficiently showed that here he would be 
compelled to swim. 

A short cessation in the firing now took place on the part 
of the Indians, who gathered about the canoe, and, having found 
the paddles, were preparing to cross the river. 

“ Pathfinder ! ” called a voice from among the bushes, at 
the point nearest to the person addressed, on the western 
shore. 

“ What would you have, Jasper ? 

“ Be of good heart— friends are at hand, and not a single 
Mingo shall cross without sufiering for his boldness. Had you 
not better leave the rifle on the rock, and swim to us before the 
rascals can get afloat ? 

“ A true woodsman never quits his piece, while he has any 
powder in his horn, or a oullet in his pouch. I have not drawn 
a trigger this day, Eau-douce, and shouldn’t relish the idea of 
parting with them riptyles, without causing them to remember 
my name. A little water will not harm my legs ; and I see that 
blackguard. Arrowhead, among the scamps, and wish to send 
him the wages he has so faithfully earned. You have not 
brought the sergeant’s daughter down here in a range wfith their 
bullets, I hope, Jasper?*’ 

She is safe, for the present at least ; though all depends 
on our keeping the river between us and the enemy. They 
must know our weakness, now ; and, should they cross, no doubt 
some of their party wiil be left on the other side.” 

“ This canoeing touches your gifts rather than mine, boy 


THE PATHFINDER, 


6i 

though I will handle a paddle with the best Mingo that evet 
struck a salmon. If they cross below the rift, why can’t we 
cross in the still water above, and keep playing at dodge and 
turn with the wolves ? ” 

“ Because, as I have said, they will leave a party on the 
other shore — and then. Pathfinder, would you expose Mabel to 
the rifles of the Iroquois ? ” 

“ The sergeant’s daughter must be saved,” returned the 
guide, with calm energy. “You are right, Jasper; she has no 
gift to authorize her in offering her sweet face and tender body 
to a Mingo rifle. What can be done, then ? They must be 
kept from crossing for an hour or two, if possible, when we 
must do our best in the darkness.” 

“ I agree with you. Pathfinder, if it can be effected ; but are 
we strong enough for such a purpose } ” 

“ The Lord is with us, boy — ^^the Lord is with us ; and it is 
unreasonable to suppose that one like the sergeant’s daughter 
will be altogether abandoned by Providence, in such a strait. 
There is not a boat atween the falls and the garrison, except 
these two canoes, to my sartain knowledge'; and I think it 
will go beyond redskin gifts to cross in the face of two rifles, 
like these of yourn and mine. I will not vaunt, Jasper, but it 
is well known on all this frontier that Killdeer seldom fails.” 

“ Your skill is admitted by all, far and near. Pathfinder, but 
a rifle takes time to be loaded ; nor are you on the land, aided 
by a good cover, where you can work to the advantage you are 
used to. If you had our canoe might you not pass to t^e shore 
with a dry rifle ? ” 

“ Can an eagle fly, Jasper ? ” returned the other, laughing 
in his usual manner, and looking back as he spoke. “ But it 
would be unwise to expose yourself on the water, for them mis- 
creants are beginning to bethink them again of powder and 
bullets.” 

“ It can be done without any such chances. Master Cap has 
gone up to the canoe, and will cast the branch of a tree into the 
river to try the current, which sets from the point above in the 
direction of your rock. See, there it comes already ; if it float 
fairly, you must raise your arm, when the canoe will follow. At 
all events, if the boat should pass you, the eddy below wih 
bring it up, and I can recover it.” 

While Jasper was still speaking, the floating branch came in 
sight, and quickening its progress with the increasing velocity 
of the current, it swept swiftly down toward the Pathfinder, whn 
seized it as it was passing, and held it in the air as a sign 


62 


THE PA THFINDER. 


success. Cap understood the signal, and presently the canoQ 
was launched into the stream, with a caution and intelligence 
that the habits of the mariner fitted him to observe. It floated 
in the same direction as the branch, and in a minute was ar- 
rested by the Pathfinder. 

“ This has been done with a frontier-man’s judgment, Jas- 
per,’' said the guide laughing ; “ but you have your gifts, which 
.incline most to the water, as mine incline to the woods. Now 
let them Mingo knaves cock their rifles and get rests, for this 
is the last chance they are likely to have at a man without a 
cover.” 

“ Nay, shove the canoe toward the shore, quartering the cur- 
rent, and throw yourself into it as it goes off,” said Jasper, 
eagerly. “ There is little use in running any risk.” 

“ I love to stand up face to face with my enemies like a man, 
while they set me the example,” returned the Pathfinder, 
proudly. “ I am not a redskin born, and it is more a white 
man’s gifts to fight openly than to lie in ambush.” 

“ And Mabel ? ” 

“ True, boy, true — the sergeant’s daughter must be saved ; 
and as you say, foolish risks only become boys. Think you 
that you can catch the canoe where you stand ? ” 

“ There can be no doubt of it, if you give a vigorous 
push.’ 

Pathfinder made the necessary effort, the light bark shot 
across the intervening space, and Jasper seized it as it came to 
land. To secure the canoe and to take proper positions in the 
cover, occupied the friends but a moment, w'hen they shook 
hands cordially, like those who had met after a long separa- 
tion. 

“ Now, Jasper, we shall see if a Mingo of them all dare 
cross the Oswego in the teeth of Killdeer ! You are handier 
with the oar, and the paddle, and the sail, than with the rifle, 
perhaps ; but you have a stout heart and a steady hand, and 
them are things that count in a fight.” 

Mabel will find me between her and her enemies,” said 
Jasper, calmly. 

“ Yes, yes, the sergeant’s daughter must be protected. I 
like you, boy, on your own account, but I like you all the bettei 
that you think of one so feeble at a moment when there is need 
of all your manhood. See, Jasper, three of the knaves are ac- 
tually getting into the canoe ! They must believe we have fled, 
or they would not surely ventur’ so much, directly in the verv 
lace of Killdeer I ” 


THE PA TIIFINDER. 


63 

Sure enough the Iroquois did appear bent on venturing 
across the stream, for, as the Pathfinder and his friends now 
kept their persons strictly concealed, their enemies began to 
think that the latter had taken to flight. The course was that 
which most white men would have followed ; but Mabel was 
under the care of those who were much too well skilled in 
forest warfare to neglect to defend the only pass that in truth 
offered even a probable chance for protection. 

As the Pathfinder had said, three warriors were in the canoe, 
two holding their rifles at a poise, kneeling in readiness to aim 
the deadly weapons ; the other standing erect in the stern to 
wield the paddle. In this manner they left the shore, having 
had the precaution to haul the canoe, previously to entering it, 
so far up the stream as to get into the comparatively still water 
above the rift. It was appirent, at a glance, that the savage 
who guided the boat was skilled in the art, for the long, steady 
sweep of his paddle sent the light bark over the glassy surface 
of the tranquil river as if it were a feather floating in air. 

“ Shall I fire t ” demanded Jasper, in a whisper, trembling 
with eagerness to engage. 

“Not yet, boy ; not yet. There are but three of them, and 
if Master Cap, yonder, knows how to use the pop-guns he car- 
ries in his belt, we may even let them land, and then we shall 
recover the canoe.” 

“ But Mabel ” 

“ No fear for the sergeant’s daughter. She is safe in the 
hollow stump, you say, with the opening judgmatically hid by 
the brambles. If what you tell me of the manner in which you 
concealed the trail be true, the sweet one may lie there a month, 
and laugh at Mingoes.” 

“ We are never certain — I wish I had brought her nearer to 
our own cover ! * 

“ What for, Eau-douce ? To place her pretty little head and 
leaping heart among flying bullets? No — no — she is bettei 
where she is, because she is safer.” 

“ We are never certain — we thought ourselves safe behind 
ihe bushes, yet you saw that we were d:sccv' 1 d.” 

“ And the Mingo imp paid for his cur’osity, as them knaves 
are about to do 

At .that instant the sharp report of a rifle was heard, when 
the Indian in the stern of the canoe leaped high into the air, 
and fe into the water holding the paddle in his hand. A small 
wreath of smoke floated out from among the bushes of tha 
eastern shore, and was soon absorbed by the atmosphere. 


64 


THE PA THFINDER. 


“ That is the Sarpent hissing I ” exclaimed the Pathfinder^ 
exultingly. “ A bolder or truer heart never beat in the breast 
of a Delaware. I am sorry that he interfered, but he could no^: 
have known our condition — he could not have known our con- 
dition.” 

The canoe no sooner lost its guide, than it floated with thf 
stream, and was soon sucked into the rapids of the rift. Per* 
fectly helpless, the two remaining savages gazed wildly aboui 
them, but could offer no resistance to the power of the element. 
It was perhaps fortunate for Chingachgook that the attention 
of most of the Iroquois was intently given to the situation ol 
those in the boat, else would his escape have been to the last 
degree difficult, if not totally impracticable. But not a foe 
moved, except to conceal his person behind some cover, and 
every eye was riveted on the two remaining adventurers. In 
less time than has been necessary to record these occurrences, 
the canoe was whirling and tossing in the rift, while both savages 
had stretched themselves in its bottom as the only means of 
preserving the equilibrium. This natural expedient soon failed 
them ; for, striking a rock, the light craft rolled over, and the 
two warriors were thrown into the river. The water is sel- 
dom deep on a rift, except in particular places where it may 
have worn channels, and there was little to be apprehended 
from drowning, though their arms were lost, and the two savages 
were fain to make the best of their way to the friendly shore, 
swimming and wading as circumstances required. The canoe 
itself lodged on a rock, in the centre of the stream, where for 
the moment it became useless to both parties. 

“ Now is our time. Pathfinder,^'* cried Jasper, as the two 
froquois exposed most of their persons while wading in the 
shallowest part of the rapids. “ The fellow up-stream is mine, 
and you can take the lower.” 

So excited had the young man become, by all the incidents 
of the stirring scene, that the bullet sped from his rifle as he 
spoke, but uselessly, as it would seem, for both the fugitives 
tossed their arms in disdain. The Pathfinder did not fire. 

“ No — no, Eau-douce,” he answered, “ I do not seek blood 
without a cause, and my bullet is well leathered and carefully 
driven down, for the time of need. I love no Ming', as is just, 
seeing how much I have consorted with the Delawares, who are 
their mortal and nat’ral enemies ; but I pull no trigger on one 
of the miscreants unless it be plain that hio death will lead to 
some good end. The de^r never leaped that fell by my hand 
wantonly. By living much alone with God in the wilderness, 


THE PATHFINDER, 


65 

a man gets to feel the justice of such opinions. One life is 
sufficient for our present wants, and there may yet be occasion 
to use Killdeer in behalf of the Sarpent, who has done an un- 
timorsome thing to let them rampant devils so plainly know 
that he is in their neighborhood. As I’m a wicked "sinner, 
there is one of them prowling along the bank, this very moment, 
like one of the boys of the garrison skulking behind a fallen 
tree to get a shot at a squiriel I ” 

As the Pathfinder pointed with his finger, while speaking, 
the quick eye of Jasper soon caught the object toward which 
it was directed. One of the young warriors of the enemy, burn- 
ing with a desire to distinguish himself, had stolen from his 
party toward the cover in which Chingachgook had concealed 
himself ; and as the latter was deceived by the apparent apathy 
of his foes, as well as engaged in some further preparations of 
his own, he had evidently obtained a position where he got a 
sight of the Delaware. This circumstance was apparent by the 
arrangements the Iroquois was making to fire. For Chingach- 
gook himself was not visible from the western side of the river. 
The rift was at a bend in the Oswego, and the sweep of the 
eastern shore formed a curve so wide that Chingachgook was 
quite near to his enemies in a straight direction, though separ- 
ated by several hundred feet on the land, owing to Which fact 
air lines brought both parties nearly equidistant from the Path- 
finder and Jasper. The general width of the river being a little 
less than two hundred yards, such necessarily was about the 
distance between his two observers and the skulking Iroquois. 

“The Sarpent must be thereabouts,” observed Pathfinder, 
who never turned his eye for an instant from the young war- 
rior; “and yet he must be strangely off his guard to allow a 
Mingo devil to get his stand so near, with manifest signs of 
bloodshed in his heart.” 

“See,” interrupted Jaspel — “there is the body of the In- 
dian the Delaware shot ! It has drifted on a rock and the 
current has forced the head and face above the water.” 

“ Quite likely boy ; quite likely. Human natur’ is little 
better than a log of drift-wood, when the life that was breathed 
into its nostrils has departed. That Iroquois will never harm 
any one more ; Out yonder skulking savage is bent on taking 
the scalp of my best and most tried friend ” 

The Pathfinder suddenly interrupted himself by raising his 
rifle, a weapon of unusual length, with admirable precision, and 
firing the instant it got its level. The Iroquois on the opposite 
shore was in the act of aiming when the fatal messenger from 


THE PA THFINDER, 


66 

Killdeer arrived. His rifle was discharged, it is true, but it was 
with the muzzle in the air, while the man himself plunged into 
the bushes, quite evidently hurt, if not slain. 

“The skulking riptyle brought it on himself,” muttered 
Pathfinder, sternly, as, dropping the breech of his rifle, he care- 
fully commenced reloading it. “ Chingachgook and I havo 
consorted together since we were boys, and have fou’t in com- 
pany, on the Horican, the Mohawk, the Ontario, and all the 
other bloody passes atween the country of the Frenchers and 
our own ; and did the foolish knave believe that I would stand 
by and see my best friend cut off in an ambushment ! ” 

“ We have served the Serpent as good a turn as he served 
us. Those rascals are troubled. Pathfinder, and are falling 
back into their covers, since they find we can reach them across 
the river.” 

“The shot is no great matter, Jasper — no great matter. 
Ask any of the 6oth, and they can tell you what Killdeer can 
do, and has done, and that too when the bullets were flying 
about our heads like hailstones. No — no — this is no great 
matter, and the onthoughtful vagabond drew it down on him- 
self.” 

“ Is that a dog or a deer swimming toward the shore ? ” 

Pathfinder started, for, sure enough, an object was crossing 
the stream above the rift, toward which, however, it was gradu- 
ally setting by the force of the current. A second look satis- 
fied both the observers that it was a man, and an Indian, 
though so concealed as at first to render it doubtful. Some 
stratagem was apprehended, and the closest attention was 
given to the movements of the stranger. 

“ He is pushing something before him, as he swims, and his 
head resembles a drifting bush ! ” said Jasper. 

“ ’Tis In jin deviltry, boy ; but Christian honesty shall sar- 
cumvent his arts.” 

As the man slowly approached, the observers began to doubt 
the accuracy of their first impressions, and it was only when 
two-thirds of the stream were passed that the truth was really 
known. 

“ The Big Sarpent, as I live ! ” exclaimed Pathfinder, look- 
ing at his companion, and laughing until the tears came into 
his eyes with pure delight at the success of the artifice. “ He 
has tied bushes to his head so as to hide it, put the horn on 
top, lashed the rifle to that bit of log he is pushing before him, 
and has come over to join his friends. Ah’s me ! The times 
and times that he and I have cut such pranks, right in the teeth 


THE PATHFINDER. 


6 ? 

of Mingoes i aging for our blood, in the great thoroughfare 
round and about Ty ! ” 

“ It may not be the Sarpent, after all, Pathfinder — I can see 
no feature that I remember.” 

“ Featur’ ! Who looks for featur’s in an Injin ? No — no- 
boy : ’tis the paint that speaks— and none but a Delaware 
would wear that paint. Them are his colors, Jasper, just as 
your craft on the lake wears St. George’s cross, and the French- 
ers set their tablecloths to fluttering in the wind, with all 
the stains of fishbones and venison-steaks upon them. Now, 
you see the eye, lad, and it is the eye of a chief. But, Eau- 
douce, fierce as it is in battle, and glassy as it looks from among 

the leaves ” here the Pathfinder laid his finger lightly, but 

impressively, on his companion’s arm — “I have seen it shed 
tears like rain. There is a soul and a heart under that red- 
skin, rely on it ; although they are a soul and a heart with gifts 
different from our own.” 

“No one who is acquainted with the chief ever doubted 
that.” 

“ I know it,” returned the other, proudly, “ for I have con- 
sorted with him in sorrow and in joy ; in one I have found him a 
man, however stricken ; in the other, a chief who knows that 
the women of his tribe are the most seemly in light merriment 
But hist ! It is too much like the people of the settlements to 
pour soft speeches into another’s ear ; and the Sarpent has keen 
senses. He knows I love him, and that I speak well of him Be- 
hind his back ; but a Delaware has modesty in his inmost na- 
tur’, though he will brag like a sinner when tied to a stake.” 

The Serpent now reached the shores directly in the front of 
his two comrades, with whose precise position he must have 
been acquainted before leaving the eastern side of the river, 
and rising from the water he shook himself like a dog, and made 
the usual exclamation ; 

“Hugh!” 


THE PATHFINDER. 




CHAPTER VI. 


•* These, as they change, Almighty Father, these 
Are but the varied God” 


'—Thomson. 


As* the chief landed, he was met by the Pathfinder, who ad 
dressed him in the language of the warrior’s people. 

“Was it well done, Chingachgook,” he said, reproachfully, 
“ to ambush a dozen Mingoes alone ! Killdeer seldom fails me, 
it is true ; but the Oswego makes a distant mark, and that mis- 
creant showed little more than his head and shoulders above, 
the busiies, and an onpractised hand and eye might have failed. 
You should have thought of this, chief ; you should have thought 
of this ! ” 

“ The Great Serpent is a Mohican warrior — he sees only 
his enemies, when he is on the warpath, and his fathers have 
struck the Mingoes from behind, since the waters began to 
run ! ” 

“ I know your gifts — I know your gifts, and respect them, 
too. No man shall hear me complain that a redskin obsarved 
redskin natur’, but prudence as much becomes a warrior as 
valor ; and had not the Iroquois devils been looking after their 
friends who were in the water, a hot trail they would have made 
of yourn ! ” 

“ What is the Delaware about to do ? ” exclaimed Jasper, 
who observed, at that moment, that the chief suddenly left the 
Pathfinder, and advanced to the water’s edge, apparently with 
an intention of again entering the river. “ He will not be so 
mad as to return to the other shore for any trifle he may have 
forgotten ! ” 

“ Not he — not he ; he is as prudent as he is brave, in the 
main, though so forgetful of himself in the late ambushment, 
Harkee, Jasper,” leading the other a little aside just as they 
heard the Indian’s plunge into the water — “ harkee, lad ; Chin- 
gachgook is not a Christian white man, like ourselves, but a Mohi- 
can chief, who has his gifts and traditions to tell him what he 
ought to do ; and he who consorts with them that are not 
strictly and altogether of his own kind, had better leave Natur’ 
and use to govern his comrades. A king’s soldier will swear, 
and he will drink, and it is of little use to try to prevent him ; 
a gentleman likes his delicacies, and a lady her feathers, and 


THE PATHFINDER. 


It does not avail much to struggle ag’in either ; whereas ar> 
Indian’s nature and gifts are much stronger than these, and no 
doubt were bestowed by the Lord for wise ends, though neither 
vou nor me can follow them in all their windings.” 

“What does this mean.? See, the Delaware is swimming 
toward the body that is lodged on the rock. Why does he risk 
this .? ” 

“ For honor, and glory, and renown, as great gentlemen quit 
their quiet homes, beyond seas, where, as they tell me heart has 
nothing left to wish for, that is, such hearts as can be satisfied 
in a clearin’, to come hither to live on game and fight the 
Frenchers.” 

“ I understand you — your friend has gone to secure the 
scalp.” 

“ ’Tis his gift, and let him enjoy it. We are white men, and 
cannot mangle a dead enemy ; but it is honor in the eyes of a 
redskin to do so. It may seem singular to you, Eau-douce, 
but I’ve known white men of great name and character manifest 
remarkable ideas consarning their honor, I have.” 

“ A savage will be a savage. Pathfinder, let him keep what 
company he may.” 

“ It is well for us to say so, lad, but, as I tell you, white 
honor will not always conform to reason, or to the will of God. 
I have passed days thinking of them matters, out in the silent 
woods, and I have come to the opinion, boy, that, as Providence 
rules all things, no gift is bestowed without some wise and rea- 
sonable end. If Injins are of no use, Injins would not have 
been created ; and, I do suppose, could one dive to the bottom 
of things, it would be found that even the Mingo tribes were 
produced for some rational and proper purposes, though I con- 
fess it surpasses my means to say what it is.” 

“ The Serpent greatly exposes himself to the enemy, in order 
to get his scalp ! This may lose us the day.” 

“ Not in his mind, Jasper. That one scalp has more honor 
in it, according to the Sarpent’s notions of warfare, than a field 
covered with slain, that kept the hair on their heads. Now, 
there was the fine young captain of the both that threw away his 
life in trying to bring off a three-pounder from among the 
Frenchers in the last scrimmage we had : he thought he was 
sarving honor ; and I have known a young ensign wrap him- 
self dp in his colors, and go to sleep in his blood, fancying that 
he was lying on something softer even than buffalo-skins ! ” 

“ Yes, yes ; one can understand the merit of not hauling 
down an ensign.” 


/ 


70 


THE PATHFINDER, 


And these are Chingachgook’s colors — he will keep them 
to show his children’s children Here the Pathfinder in- 

terrupted himself, shook his head in melancholy, and slowly 
added : “ Ah’s me ! no shoot of the old Mohican stem remains ! 
He has no children to delight with his trophies ; no tribe to 
honor by his deeds ; he is a lone man in this world, and yet he 
stands true to his training and his gifts ! There is something 
honest and respectable in these, you must allow, Jasper ; yeji 
there is something decent in that.” 

Here a great outcry from among the Iroquois was sue 
ceeded by the quick reports of their rifles ; and so eager did 
the enemies become in the desire to drive the Delaware back 
from his victim, that a dozen rushed into the river, several of 
whom even advanced near a hundred feet into the foaming 
current, as if they actually meditated a serious sortie. But 
Chingachgook continued as unmoved, as he remained unhurt 
by the missiles, accomplishing his task with the dexterity of 
long habit. Flourishing his reeking trophy, he gave the war^ 
whoop in its most frightful intonations, and, for a minute, the 
arches of the silent woods, and the deep vista formed by the 
course of the river, echoed with cries so terrific that Mabel 
bowed her head in irrepressible fear, while her uncle for a 
single instant actually meditated flight. 

“ This surpasses all I have heard from the wretches,” Jasper 
exclaimed, stopping his ears, equally in horror and disgust. 

“ ’Tis their music, boy ; their drum and fife ; their trumpets 
and clarions. No doubt they love them sounds, for they stir 
up in them fierce feelin’s and a desire for blood,” returned the 
Pathfinder, totally unmoved. “ I thought them rather fright- 
ful when a mere youngster, but they have got to be like the 
whistle of the whippoorwill, or the song of the catbird in my ear 
now. All the screeching riptyles that could stand atween the 
falls and the garrison would have no effect on my narves at 
this time of day. I say it not in boasting, Jasper, for the 
man that lets in cowardice through the ears, must have but 
a weak heart, at the best ; sounds and outcries being more in- 
tended to alarm women and children than such as scout in the 
forest and face the foe. I hope the Sarpent is now satisfied, 
tor here he comes with the scalp at his belt.” 

Jasper turned away his head, as the Delaware rose from the 
water, in pure disgust at his late errand, but the Pathfinder re^ 
garded his friend with the philosophical coolness of one who 
had made up his mind to be indifferent to things he deemed 
immaterial. As the Delaware passed deeper into the bushes^ 


THE PA THFINDER. 


71 


with a view to wring his trifling calico dress and to prepare 
His imv. “"^rvice, he gave one glance of triumph at his com- 
panions, and then an connected with the recent ex- 

ploit seemed to cease. 

“ Jasper,” resumed the guide, “ step down to the station oi 
Master Cap and ask him to join us : we have little time for a 
council, and yet our plans must be laid quickly, for it will not 
be long before them Mingoes will be plotting our ruin.” 

The young man complied, and in a few minutes the four 
were assembled near the shore, completely concealed from the 
view of their enemies, while they kept a vigilant w'atch over the 
proceedings of the latter, in order to consult on their own fu- 
ture movements. 

By this time the day had so far advanced as to leave but a 
few minutes betw'een the passing light and an obscurity that 
promises to be even deeper than common. The sun had al- 
ready set, and the twilight of a low latitude would soon pass 
into the darkness of deep night. Most of the hopes of the party 
rested on this favorable circumstance, though it was not with- 
out its dangers also, as the very obscurity which would favor 
their escape would be as likely to conceal the movements of 
their wily enemies. 

“ The moment has come, men,” Pathfinder commenced, 
when our plans must be coolly laid, in order that we may act 
together, and wuth a right understanding of our errand and 
gifts. In an hour’s time, these woods will be as dark as mid- 
night, and, if we are ever to gain the garrison, it must be done 
under favor of this advantage. What say you. Master Cap ? 
For, though none of the most experienced in combats and re- 
treats in the woods, your years entitle you to speak first in a 
matter like this and in a council.” 

“ And my near relations to Mabel, Pathfinder, ought to 
count for something ” 

“ I don’t know that — I don’t know that. Regard is regard, 
and liking liking, whether it be a gift of Natur’, or come from 
one’s own judgment and inclinations. I will say nothing for 
the Sarpent, who is past placing his mind on the women, but 
as for Jasper and myself, we are as ready to stand atween the 
sergeant’s daughter and the Mingoes, as her own brave father 
himself could be. Do I say more than the truth, lad .? ” 

“ Mabel may count on me to the last drop of my blood,” 
said Jasper, speaking low, but with intense feeling. 

“ Well, well,” rejoined the uncle, “ we will not discuss this 
matter, as all seem willing to serve the girl, and deeds are 


72 


THE PA THFINDER. 


better than words. In my judgment, all we have to do is to 
go on board the canoe, when it gets to be so dark 
lookouts can’t see us, and run for J^c^vcn as soon as wind 
and tide will 

“ That is easily said, but not so easily done,” returned the 
guide. “ We shall be more exposed in the river than by fob 
lowing the woods, and then there is the Oswego rift below us, 
and I am far f^-om sartin that Jasper himself can carry a 
boat safely through it in the dark. What say you, lad, as 
to your own skill and judgment ? ” 

“ I am of Master Cap’s opinion about using the canoe, 
Mabel is too tender to walk through swamps, and among roots 
of trees, in such a night as this promises to be ; and then, I 
always feel myself stouter of heart and truer of eye when afloat 
than when ashore.” 

“ Stout of heart you always be, lad, and I think tolerably true 
of eye for one who has lived so much in broad sunshine and so 
little in the woods. Ah’s me ! the Ontario has no trees, or it 
would be a plain to delight a hunter’s heart. As to your 
opinion, friends, there is much for and much ag’inst it. For it, 
it may be said water leaves no trail ” 

“ What do you call the wake ? ” interrupted the pertina- 
cious and dogmatical Cap. 

“ Anan ? ” 

“ Go on,” said Jasper ; “ Master Cap thinks he is on the 
ocean. Water leaves no trail ” 

“ It leaves none, Eau-douce, hereaway, though I do not 
pretend to say what it may leave on the sea. Then a canoe is 
both swift and easy, when it floats with the current, and the 
tender limbs of the sergeant’s daughter will be favored by its 
motion. But, on the other hand, the river will have no cover 
but the clouds in the heavens, the rift is a ticklish thing for 
boats to venture into, even by daylight, and it is six fairly meas- 
ured miles by water from this spot to the garrison. Then a 
trail on the land is not easy to be found in the dark. I am 
troubled, Jasper, to say which way we ought to counsel and 
advise.” 

“ If the Sarpent and myself could swim into the river and 
bring off the other canoe,” the young sailor replied, “ it would 
seem to me that our safest course would be the water.” 

“ If, indeed ! and yet it might easily be done, as soon as it 
was a little darker. Well, well, considering the sergeant’s 
daughter, and her gifts, I am not sartin it will not be the best 
Though, were we only a party of men, it would be like a hum 


THE PATHFINDER. 


73 

to the lusty and brave, to play at hide-and-seek with yonder 
miscreants, on the other shore. Jasper,” continued the guide, 
into whose character there entered no ingredient that belonged 
to vain display or theatrical effect, “will you undertake to bring 
in the canoe ? ” 

“ I will undertake anything that will serve and protect 
Mabel, Pathfinder.” 

“ That is an upright feeling, and I suppose it is natur’. The 
Sarpent, who is nearly naked already, can help you, and this 
will be cutting off one of the means of them devils to work 
their harm.” 

This material point being settled, the different members of 
the party prepared themselves to put the project into execu- 
tion. The shades of evening fell fast upon the forest, and by 
the time all was ready for the attempt, it was found impossible 
to discern objects on the opposite shore. Time now pressed, 
for Indian cunning could devise so many expedients for pass- 
ing so narrow a stream, that the Pathfinder was getting impatient 
to quit the spot. While Jasper and his companion entered the 
river, armed with nothing but their knives and the Delaware’s 
tomahawk, observing the greatest caution not to betray their 
movements, the guide brought Mabel from her place of con* 
cealment, and bidding her and Cap proceed along the shore to 
the foot of the rapids, he got into the canoe that remained in 
his possession, in order to carry it to the same place. 

This was easily effected. The canoe was laid against the 
bank, and Mabel and her uncle entered it, taking their seats as 
usual ; while the Pathfinder, erect in the stern, held by a bush, 
in order to prevent the swift stream from sweeping them down 
its current. Several minutes of intense and breathless expec- 
tation followed, while they awaited the result of the bold attempt 
of their comrades. 

It will be understood that the two adventurers were com- 
pelled to swim across a deep and rapid channel, ere they could 
reach a part of the rift that admitted of wading. This portion 
of the enterprise was soon effected ; and Jasper and the Serpent 
struck the bottom, side by side, at the same instant. Having 
secured firm footing, they took hold of each other’s hands, and 
waded slowly and with extreme caution in the supposed direc- 
tion of the canoe. But the darkness was already so deep, that 
they soon ascertained they were to be but little aided by the 
sense of sight, and that their search must be conducted on that 
species of instinct which enables the woodsman to find his way, 
when the sun is hid, no stars appear, and all would seem chaos 


THE PATHFINDER. 


74 

to one less accustomed to the mazes of the forest. Under thes« 
circumstances, Jasper submitted to be guided by the Delaware, 
whose habits best fitted him to take the lead. Still, it was no 
easy matter to wade amid the roaring element, at that hour, and 
retain a clear recollection of the localities. By the time they 
believed themselves to be in the centre of the stream, the two 
shores were discernible merely by masses of obscurity densei 
than common, the outlines against the clouds being barely dis- 
tinguishable by the ragged tops of the trees. Once or twice 
the wanderers altered their course, in consequence of unexpect- 
edly stepping into deep water, for they knew that the boat had 
lodged on the shallowest part of the rift. In short, with this fact 
for their compass, Jasper and his companion wandered about 
In the water for near a quarter of an hour, and at the end of 
that period, which began to appear interminable to the young 
man, they found themselves apparently no nearer the object of 
their search than they had been at its commencement. Just 
as the Delaware was about to stop, in order to inform his 
associate that they would do well to return to the land, in order 
to take a fresh departure, he saw the form of a man moving 
about in the water, almost within reach of his arm. Jasper was 
at his side and he at once understood that the Iroquois were 
engaged on the same errand as he was himself. 

“Mingo ! ” he uttered in Jasper’s ear — “ the Serpent will 
show his brother how to be cunning.” 

The young sailor caught a glimpse of the figure at that in- 
stant, and the startling truth also flashed on his mind. Un- 
derstanding the necessity of trusting all to the Delaware chief, 
he kept back, while his friend moved cautiously in the direction 
in which the strange form had vanished. In another moment, 
it was seen again, evidently moving toward themselves. The 
waters made such an uproar, that little was to be apprehended 
from ordinary sounds, and the Indian, turning his head, hastily 
said : 

“ Leave it to the cunning of the great Serpent.” 

“ Hugh ! ” exclaimed the strange savage, adding, in the 
language of his people — “ the canoe is found, but there were 
none to help me. Come, let us raise it from the rock.” 

“ Willingly,” answered Chingachgook, who understood the 
dialect — “ lead ; we will follow.” 

The stranger, unable to distinguish between voices and 
accents, amid the raging of the rapid, led the way in the nec- 
essary direction, and, the two others keeping close at his heels, 
all three speedily reached the canoe. The Iroquois laid hold 


THE PATHFINDER. 


75 

of one end, Chingachgook placed himself in the centre, and 
Jasper went to the opposite extremity, as it was important that 
the stranger should not detect the presence of a paleface, a 
discovery that might be made, by the parts of the dress the 
young man still wore, as well as by the general appearance of 
his head. 

“ Lift,*’ said the Iroquois, in the sententious manner of his 
race ; and by a trifling effort the canoe was raised from the 
rock, held a moment in the air to empty it, and then placed 
carefully on the water, in its proper position. All three held 
it firmly, lest it should escape from their hands, under the 
pressure of the violent current ; while the Iroqouis, who led of 
course, being at the upper end of the boat, took the direction 
of the eastern shore, or toward the spot his friends awaited his 
return. 

As the Delaware and Jasper well knew, there must be 
several more of the Iroquois on the rift ; from the circumstance 
that their own appearance had occasioned no surprise in the 
individual they had met, both felt the necessity of extreme cau- 
tion. Men less bold and determined would have thought that they 
were incurring too great a risk, by thus venturing into the midst 
of their enemies ; but these hardy borderers were unacquaint- 
ed wdth fear, accustomed to hazard, and so well understood 
the necessity of at least preventing their foes from getting the 
boat, that they would have cheerfully encountered even greater 
risks to secure their object. So all important to the safety of 
Mabel, indeed, did Jasper deem the possession or the destruc- 
tion of this canoe, that he had drawn his knife, and stood ready 
to rip up the bark, in order to render the boat temporarily 
unserviceable, should anything occur to compel the Delaware 
and himself to abandon their prize. 

In the meantime, the Iroquois, who led the way, proceeded 
slowly through the water in the direction of his own party, still 
grasping the canoe, and dragging his reluctant followers in his 
train. Once, Chingachgook raised his tomahawk and was about to 
bury it in the brain of his confiding and unsuspicious neighbor, 
but the probability that the death-cry or the floating body might 
give the alarm, induced that wary chief to change his purpose. 
At the next moment he regretted this indecision, for the three 
who clung to the canoe suddenly found themselves in the cen- 
tre of a party of no less than four others who were in quest of 
it. 

After the usual brief, characteristic exclamations of satis- 
faction, the savages eagerly laid hold of the canoe, for all seemed 


THE PATHFINDER 


76 

impressed with the, necessity of securing this important boat; 
the one side in order to assail their foes, and the other to se 
cure their retreat. The addition to the party, however, was so 
unlooked for, and so completely gave the enemy the superior- 
ity, that, for a few moments, the ingenuity and address of even 
the Delaware were at fault. The five Iroquois, who seemed 
perfectly to understand their errand, pressed forward toward 
their own shore, without pausing to converse ; their object be- 
ing, in truth, to obtain the paddles, which they had previously 
secured, and to embark three or four warriors, with all then 
rifles and powder-horns, the w^ant of which had alone prevented 
their crossing the river by swimming as soon as it was dark. 

In this manner the body of friends and foes united reached 
the margin of the eastern channel, where, as in the case of the 
western, the river was too deep to be waded. Here a short 
pause succeeded, it being necessary to determine the manner 
in which the canoe was to be carried across. One of the four 
who had just reached the boat was a chief, and the habitual 
deference which the American Indian pays to merit, experi- 
ence, and station, kept the others silent until this individual 
had spoken. 

The halt greatly added to the danger of discovering the 
presence of Jasper, in particular, who, however, had the pre- 
caution to throw the cap he wore into the bottom of the canoe. 
Being without his jacket and shirt, the outline of his figure, in 
the obscurity, would not be less likely to attract observation. 
His position, too, at the stern of the canoe, a little favored his 
concealment, the Iroquois naturally keeping their looks directed 
the other way. Not so with Chingachgook. This warrior was 
literally in the midst of his most deadly foes, and he could 
scarcely stir without touching one of them. Yet he was appar- 
ently unmoved, though he kept all his senses on the alert, in 
readiness to escape, or to strike a blow at the proper moment. 
By carefully abstaining from looking toward those behind him, 
he lessened the chances of discovery, and waited with the in- 
domitable patience of an Indian for the instant when he should 
be required to acB 

“ Let all my young men but two, one at each end of the 
canoe, cross and get their arms,” said the Iroquois chief. “ Let, 
the two push over the boat.” 

The Indians quietly obeyed, leaving Jasper at the stern, 
and the Iroquois who had found the canoe at the bow of the 
light craft, Chingachgook burying himself so deep in the riverj 
as to be passed by the others without detection. The splash 


THE PATHFINDER, 


77 

Ing hr the water, the tossing arms, and the calls of one to other, 
soon announced that the four who had last joined the party 
were already swimming. As soon as this fact was certain, the 
Delaware rose, resumed Ins former station, and began to think 
the moment for action was come. 

One less habitually under self-restraint than this warrior 
would probably have now aimed his meditated blow; but 
Chingachgook knew there were more Iroquois behind him on 
the rift, and he w'as a warrior much too trained and experienced 
to risk anything unnecessarily. He suffered the Indian at the 
bow of the canoe to push off into the deep water, and then all 
three were swimming in the direction of the eastern shore. In- 
stead, however, of helping the canoe across the swift current, 
no sooner did the Delaware and Jasper find themselves within 
the influence of its greatest force, than both began to swim in 
& way to check their further progress across the stream. Nor 
was this done suddenly, or in the incautious manner in which a 
civilized man would have been apt to attempt the artifice, but 
warily and so gradually that the Iroquois at the bow fancied at 
first he was merely struggling against the strength of the cur- 
rent. Of course, while acted on by these opposing efforts, the 
canoe drifted down-stream, and in about a minute it was float- 
ing in still deeper water at the foot of the rift. Here, however, 
the Iroquois was not slow in finding that something unusual re- 
tarded their advance, and looking back he first learned that he 
W'as resisted by the efforts of his companions. 

That second nature, which grows up through habit, instantly 
told the young Iroquois that he was alone with enemies. Dash- 
ing the water aside, he sprang at the throat of Chingachgookji 
and the two Indians, relinquishing their hold of the canoe, 
seized each other tike tigers. In the midst of the darkness of 
that gloomy night, and floating in an element so dangerous to 
man, when engaged in deadly strife, they appeared to forget 
everything but theii tell animosity, and their mutual desire to 
conquer. 

Jasper had now complete command of the canoe, which flew 
off like a feather, impelled by the breath under the violent re- 
action of the struggles of the two combatants. The first im- 
pulse of the youth was to swim to the aid of the Delaware, but 
the importance of securing the boat presented itself with ten- 
fold force, while he listened to the heavy breathings of the war- 
riors as they throttled each other, and he proceeded as fast as 
possible toward the western shore. This he soon reached, and, 
after a short search, he succeeded in discovering the remainder 


THE PA THFINDER. 


78 

of the party, and in procuring his clothes. A few words sufficed 
to explain the situation in which he had left the Delaware, and 
the manner in which the canoe had been obtained. 

When those who had been left behind had heard the explan- 
ations of Jasper, a profound stillness reigned among them, each 
listening intently in the vain hope of catching some clew to the 
result of the fearful struggle that had just taken place, if it 
were not still going on in the water. Nothing was audible 
beyond the steady roar of the gushing river ; it being a part of 
the policy of their enemies on the opposite shore to observe 
the most deathlike stillness. 

“Take this paddle, Jasper,’' said Pathfinder, calmly, though 
the listeners thought his voice sounded more melancholy than 
usual, “ and follow with your own canoe. It is unsafe for 
us to remain here longer.” 

“ But the Serpent ? ” 

“ The Great Serpent is in the hands of his own Deity, and 
will live or die according to the intentions of Providence. We 
can do him no good, and may risk too much by remaining her© 
in idleness, like women talking over distresses. This darkness 
is very precious ” 

A loud, long, piercing yell came from the shore, and cut 
short the words of the guide. 

“What is the meaning of that uproar. Master Pathfinder?” 
demanded Cap. “ It sounds more like the outcries of devils 
than anything that can come from the throats of Christians and 
men.” 

“ Christians they are not, and do not pretend to be, and do 
not wish to be ; and in calling them devils you have scarcely 
misnamed them. That yell is one of rejoicing, and it is as 
conquerors they have given it. The body of the Serpent, no 
doubt, dead or alive, is in their power ! ” 

“ And we ! ” exclaimed Jasper, who felt a pang of generous 
regret, as the idea that he might have averted the calamity 
presented itself to his mind,diad he not deserted his comrade. 

“ We can do the chief no good, lad, and must quit this spot 
as fast as possible.” 

“ Without one attempt to rescue him ! — without even know- 
ing whether he is dead or living ? ” 

“ Jasper is right,” said Mabel, who could speak, though her 
voice sounded huskily and smothered ; “ I have no fears, uncle, 
and will stay here until we know what has become of out 
friend.” 

“ This seems reasonable. Pathfinder,” put in Cap. “ Your 


T/IE PAl'HFINDER, 

true seaman cannot well desert a messmate ; and I am glad to 
find that motives so correct exist among those fresh-water 
people.” 

“ Tut — tut ! ” returned the impatient guide, forcing the 
canoe into the stream as he spoke, “ ye know nothing, and ye 
fear nothing. If ye value your lives, think of reaching the 
garrison, and leave the Delaware in the hands of Providence. 
Ah’s me ! The deer that goes too often to the lick meets the 
hunter at last i ” 


CHAPTER VII. 


** And !s this — Yarrow? —this the stream 
Of which my fancy cherished 
So faithfully a waking dream ? n 

An image that hath perished ? 

Oh, that some minstrel’s harp were near, 

To utter notes of gladness, 

And chase this silence from the air. 

That fills my heart with sadness ! ” 

— W ORDSWORTH. 

The scene was not without sublimity; and the ardent 
generous-minded Mabel felt her blood thrill in her veins, and 
her cheek flush, as the canoe shot into the strength of the 
stream to quit the spot. The darkness of the night had 
lessened by the dispersion of the clouds ; but the overhanging 
woods rendered the shores so obscure that the boats floated 
down the current in a belt of gloom that effectually secured 
them from detection. Still there was necessarily a strong 
feeling of insecurity in all on board them ; and even Jasper, 
who by this time began to tremble in behalf of the girl, at 
every unusual sound that arose from the forest, kept casting 
uneasy glances around him, as he drifted on, in company. The 
paddle was used lightly, and only with exceeding care, for the 
slightest sound, in the breathing stillness of that hour and 
place, might apprise the watchful ears of the Iroquois of their 
position. 

All the accessories added to the impressive grandeur of 
her situation, and contributed to render the moment much the 
most exciting that had ever occurred in the brief existence of 
Mabel Dunham. Spirited, accustomed to self-reliance, and 
sustained by the pride of considering herself a soldier’s 


8o 


THE PATHFINDER, 


daughter, she could hardly be said to be under the influence of 
fear, yet her heart often beat quicker than common, her fine 
blue eye lighted with an exhibition of a resolution that was 
wasted in the darkness, and her quickened feelings came in 
aid of the real sublimity that belonged to the scene, and to the 
incidents of the night. 

“ Mabel !” said the suppressed voice of Jasper, as the two 
canoes floated so near each other that the hand of the young 
man held them together, “ you have no dread, you trust freely 
to our care, and willingness to protect you ? ” 

“ I am a soldier’s daughter, as you know, Jasper Western, 
and ought to be ashamed to confess fear.” 

“ Rely on me — on us all. Your uncle, Pathfinder, the Dela- 
ware, were the poor fellow here, I myself, will risk everything 
rather than harm should reach you.” 

“ I believe you, Jasper,” returned the girl, her hand uncon- 
sciously playing in the water. “ I know that my uncle loves 
me, and will never think of himself until he has first thought of 
me ; and I believe you are all my father’s friends, and would 
willingly assist his child. But I am not so feeble and weak- 
minded as you may think, for though only a girl from the towns, 
and, like many of that class, a little disposed to see danger 
where there is none, I promise you, Jasper, no foolish fears of 
mine shall stand in the way of your doing your duty.” 

“ The sergeant’s daugher is right, and she is worthy of 
being honest Thomas Dunham’s child,” put in the Pathfinder. 
“ All’s me ! pretty one, many is the time that your father and 
I have scouted and marched together on the flanks and rear 
of the enemy, in nights darker than this, and that, too, when 
we did not know but the next moment would lead us into a 
bloody ambushment. I was at his side when he got the wound 
in his shoulder, and the honest fellow will tell you, when you 
meet, the manner in which we contrived to cross the river that 
lay in our rear, in order to save his scalp.” 

“ He has told me,” said Mabel, with more energy, perhaps, 
than her situation rendered prudent. “ I have his letters, in 
which he has mentioned all that, and I thank you from the 
bottom of my heart for the service. God will remember it. 
Pathfinder ; and there is no gratitude that you can ask of the 
daughter, which she will not cheerfully repay for her father’s 
life.” 

“Ay, that is the way with all your gentle and pure-hearted 
creatur’s ! I have seen some of you before, and have heard of 
others ! The sergeant, himself, has talked to me of his owi 


THE PATHFINDER. 


8i 


young days ; and of your mother, and of the manner in which 
he courted her, and of all the crossings and disapp’intments, 
until he succeeded, at last.” 

“ My mother did not live long to repay him for what he 
did to win her,” said Mabel with a trembling lip. 

“ So he tells me. The honest sergeant has kept nothing 
back, for, being so many years my senior, he has looked on me, 
in our many scoutings together, as a sort of son.” 

Perhaps, Pathfinder,” observed Jasper, with a huskiness 
in a voice that defeated the attempt at pleasantry, “he would 
be glad to have you for one, in reality.” 

“ And if he did, Eau-douce, where would be the sin of it ? 
He knows what I am on a trail, or a scout, and he has seen me 
often face to face with the Frenchers. I have sometimes 
thought, lad, that we all ought to seek for wives ; for the man 
that lives altogether in the woods, and in company with his 
enemies, or his prey, gets to lose some of the feelin’ of kind, in 
the end.” 

“From the specimen I have seen,” observed Mabel, “ I 
should say that they who live much in the forest forget to learn 
many, of the deceits and vices of the towns.” 

“ It is not easy, Mabel, to dwell always in the presence of 
God, and not feel the power of his goodness. I have attended 
church-sarvice in the garrisons, and tried hard, as becomes a 
true soldier, to join in the prayers ; for, though no enlisted 
sarvant of the king, I fight his battles and sarve his cause — and 
so I have endeVored to worship garrison-fashion, but never 
could raise within me the solemn feeling and true affection that 
I feel when alone with God in the forest. There I seem to 
stand face to face with my Master ; all around me is fresh and 
beautiful, as it came from his hand, and there is no nicety or 
doctrine to chill the feelin’s. No, no ; the woods are the true 
temple, a’ter all, for there the thoughts are free to mount higher 
even than the clouds.” 

“You speak the truth. Master Pathfinder,” said Cap, “and 
a truth that all who live much in soltitude know. What, for in- 
stance, is the reason that seafaring men, in general, are so re- 
ligious and conscientious in all they do, but the fact that they 
are so often alone with Providence, and have so little to do 
with the wickedness of the land.? Many and many is the time 
that I have stood my watch, under the equator, perhaps, or in 
the Southern Ocean, when the nights are lighted up with the 
fires of heaven ; and that is the time, I can tell you, my hearties, 
to bring a man to his bearings, in the way of his sins. I have 


82 


THE PATHFINDER. 


rattled down mine, again and again, under such circumstances, 
until the shrouds and lanyards of conscience have fairly creaked 
with the strain. I agree with you. Master Pathfinder, therefore, 
in saying, if you want a truly religious man, go to sea, or go 
into the woods.” 

“ Uncle, I thought seamen had little credit, generally, for 
heir respect for religion.” 

“ All d d slander, girl ! Ask your seafaring man whal 

his real, private opinion is of your landsmen, parsons and all, 
and you will hear the other side of the question. I know no 
crass of men who have been so belied as seafaring men, in this 
particular; and it is all because they do not stay at home to 
defend themselves, and pay the clergy. They haven’t as much 
doctrine, perhaps, as some ashore, but as for all the essentials 
of Christianity, the seaman beats the landsman hand-over-hand.” 

I will not answer for all this. Master Cap,” returned Path- 
finder, “ but 1 dare say some of it may be true. 1 want 
no thunder and lightning to remind me of my God, nor am 
I as apt to bethink me most of all His goodness, in trouble 
and tribulations, as on a calm, solemn, quiet day in a forest, 
when his voice is heard in the creaking of a dead branch, or in 
the song of a bird, as much, in my ears at least, as it is ever 
heard in uproar and gales. — How is it with you, Eau-douce ? 
You face the tempests as well as Master Cap, and ought to 
know something of the feelin’s of storms ? ” 

“ I fear that I am too young and too inexperienced, to be 
able to say much on such a subject,” modestly answered Jasper. 

‘‘ But you have your feelings ? ” said Mabel, quickly. “ You 
cannot — no one can live among such scenes without feeling how 
much they ought to trust in God ! ” 

“ I shall not belie my training so much as to say I do not 
sometimes think of these things, but I fear it is not as often or 
as much as I ought.” 

“ Fresh w'ater ! ” resumed Cap, pithily ; “ you are not to 
expect too much of the young man, Mabel. I think they call 
you sometimes, by a name which would insinuate all this. Eau- 
de-vie, is it not ? ” 

“ Eau-douce,” quietly replied Jasper, wEo from sailing on 
the lake had acquired a knowledge of French, as well as ol 
several of the Indian dialects. “ It is a name the Iroquois have 
given me to distinguish me from some of my companions who 
once sailed upon the sea, and are fond of filling the ears of the 
natives with stories of their great salt-water lakes.” 

“And why shouldn’t they ? I dare say they do the savage* 


THE PATHFINDER. 


no harm. They may not civilize them, but they will not make 
them greater barbarians than they are. Ay — ay — Oh! the 
deuce, that must mean the white brandy, which is no great 
matter after all, and may well enough be called the deuce, for 
deuced stuff it is ? 

“ The signification of Eau-douce is sweet- water, or water 
that can be drunk, and it is the manner in which the French 
express fresh-water,” rejoined Jasper, a little nettled at the dis- 
tinction made by Cap, although the latter was the uncle of 
Mabel. 

“ And how the devil do you make water out of Oh ! the 
deuce, when it means brandy in Eau-de-vie ? This may be the 
French used hereaway, but it is not that they use in Burdux 
and other French ports ; besides, among seamen Eau always 
means brandy, and Eau-de-vie, brandy of a high proof. I think 
nothing of your ignorance, young man, for it is natural to your 
situation, and cannot be helped. If you will return with me, 
and make a v’y’ge or two on the Atlantic, it will serve you a 
good turn the remainder of your days, and Mabel, there, and 
all the other young woman near the coast will think all the 
better of you, should you live to be as old as one of the trees in 
this forest.” 

“ Nay, nay,” interrupted the single-hearted and generous 
guide ; “Jasper wants not for fri’nds in this region, I can as- 
sure you ; and though seeing the world, according to his habits 
may do him good as well as another, we shall think none the 
worse of him if he never quits us. Eau-douce, or Eau-de-vie, 
he is a brave, true-hearted youth, and I always sleep as sound 
when he is on the watch as if I was up and stirring myself ; ay, 
and for that matter, sounder too. The sergeant’s daughter, 
here, doesn’t believe it necessary for the lad to go to sea in 
order to make a man of him, or one who is worthy to be re- 
spected and esteemed.” 

Mabel made no reply to this appeal, and she even looked 
toward the western shore, although the darkness rendered the 
natural movement unnecessary to conceal her face. But Jas- 
per felt that there was a necessity for his saying something ; 
the pride of youth and manhood revolting at the idea of his be- 
ing in a condition not to command the respect of his fellows, 
or the smiles of his equals of the other sex. Still he was un- 
willing to utter aught that raight be considered harsh to the 
uncle of Mabel ; and his self-command was, perhaps, more 
creditable than his modesty and spirit. 

“ I pretend not to things I don’t possess,” he said, “ and 


THE PATHFINDER. 


84 

lay no claim to any knowledge of the ocean, or of navigation. 
We steer by the stars and the compass on these lakes, running 
from headland to headland, and, having little need of figures 
and calculations, make no use of them. But we have our 
claims, notwithstanding, as I have often heard from those who 
have passed years on the ocean. In the first place, we have 
always the land aboard, and much of the time on a lee shore, 
and that, I have frequently heard, makes hardy sailors. Oui 
gales are sudden and severe, and we are compelled to run foi 
our ports at all hours ” 

“ You have leads,” interrupted Cap. 

“ They are of little use, and are seldom cast.” 

“ The deep seas ” 

“ I have heard of such things, but I confess I never saw 
one.” 

“ Oh ! the deuce, with a vengeance. A trader, and no deep 
sea ! Why, boy, you cannot pretend to be anything of a mar- 
iner. Who the devil ever heard of a seaman without his deep 
sea ? ” 

“ I don’t pretend to any particular skill, Master Cap ” 

“ Except in shooting falls, Jasper; except in shooting falls 
and rifts,” said Pathfinder, aiming to the rescue ; “ in which 
business even you. Master Cap, must allow he has some hand- 
iness. In my judgment, every man is to be esteemed or con- 
demned according to his gifts ; and if Master Cap is useless in 
running the Oswego falls, I try to remember that he is useful 
when out of sight of land; and if Jasper be useless when out 
of sight of land, I do not forget that he has a true eye and 
steady hand when running the falls.” 

“ But Jasper is not useless — would not be useless wEen out 
of sight of land,” said Mabel, with a spirit and energy that 
caused her clear, sweet voice to be startling amid the solemn 
stillness of that extraordinary scene. “ No one can be useless 
there who can do so much here, is what I mean ; though I 
dare say he is not as well acquainted with ships as my uncle.” 

“ Ay, bolster each other up in your ignorance,” returned 
Cap, with a sneer ; “ we seamen are so much outnumbered 
when ashore that it is seldom we get our dues : but when you 
want to be defended, or trade is to be carried on, there is out- 
cry enough for us.” 

“But, uncle, landsmen do not come to attack our coasts; 
• s© that seamen only meet seamen.” 

“ So much for ignorance ! Where are all the enemies that 


THE PA THFINDER. 


lave landed in this country, French and English ; let me im 
quire, niece ? ” 

“ Sure enough, where are they ? ” ejaculated Pathfinder. 

None can tell better than we who dwell in the woods. Master 
Cap. I have often followed their line of march by bones 
bleaching in the rain, and have found their trail by graves 
years after they and their pride had vanished together. Giny- 
rals and privates, they lay scattered throughout the land, so 
many proofs of what men are when led on by their love of 
great names, and the wish to be more than their fellows.” 

“ I must say. Master Pathfinder, that you sometimes uttei 
opinions that are a little remarkable for a man who lives by the 
rifie ; seldom snuffing the air but he smells gunpowder, or 
turning out of his berth but to bear down on an enemy.” 

“ If you think I pass my days in warfare against my kind, 
you know neither me nor my history. The man that lives in 
the woods and on the frontiers, must take the chances of the 
things among which he dwells. For this I am not accountable, 
being but an humble and powerless hunter, and scout, and 
guide. My real calling is to hunt for the army on its marches, 
and in times of peace ; although I am more especially engaged 
in the service of one officer, who is now absent in the settle- 
ments, where I never follow him. No — no — bloodshed and 
warfare are not my real gifts, but peace and mercy. Still, I 
must face the enemy as well as another, and as for a Mingo, T 
look upon him as a man looks on a snake — a creatur’ to be 
put beneath the heel whenever a fitting occasion offers.” 

“Well, well — I have mistaken your calling, which I had 
thought as regularly warlike as that of a ship’s gunner. There 
is my brother-in-law, now ; he has been a soldier since he was 
sixteen, and he looks upon his trade as every way as respecta- 
ble as that of a seafaring man, which is a point I hardly think 
it worth while to dispute with him. ” 

“ My father has been taught to believe that it is honorable 
to carry arms,” said Mabel, “for his father was a soldier be- 
fore him.” 

“ Yes, yes,” resumed the guide, “ most of the sergeant’s 
gifts are martial, and he looks at most things in this world over 
the barrel of his musket. One of his notions, now, is to prefai 
a king’s piece to a regular double-sighted, long-barrelled rifle. 
Such consaits will come over men from long habit ; and preju' 
dice is perhaps the commonest failing of human natur’.” 

“ Ashore, I grant you,” said Cap. “ I never return froni a 
v’y’ge but I make the very same remark. Now, the last time 


THE PA THFINDER. 


I came in, I found scarcely a man in all York who would think 
of matters and things in general as I thought about them my- 
self. Every man I met appeared to have bowsed all his idees 
up into the wind’s eye, and when he did fall off a little from 
his one-sided notions, it was commonly to ware short round on 
his heel, and to lay up as close as ever on the other tack.” 

“Do you understand this, Jasper?” the smiling Mabel 
half-whispered to the young man, who still kept his own canoe 
so near as to be close at her side. 

“ There is not so much difference between salt and fresh 
water that we who pass our time on them cannot comprehend 
each other. It is no great merit, Mabel, to understand the 
language of our trade.” 

“ Even Religion,” continued Cap, “ isn’t moored in exactly 
the same place it was in my young days. They veer and haul 
upon it ashore, as they do on all other things, and it is no won- 
der if now and then they get jammed. Everything seems to 
change but the compass, and even that has its variations.” 

“ Well,” returned the Pathfinder, “ I thought Christianity 
and the compass both pretty stationary.” 

“ So they are, afloat, bating the variations. Religion at sea 
is just the same thing to-day that it was when I first put my 
hand into the trT-bucket. No one will dispute it who has the 
fear of God before his eyes. I can see no difference between 
the state of religion on board ship now, and what it was when 
I was a younker. But it is not so ashore, by any means. Take 
my word for it. Master Pathfinder, it is a difficult thing to find 
a man — I mean a landsman — who views these matters to-day 
exactly as he looked at them forty years ago.” 

“ And yet God is unchanged — his works are unchanged — 
his holy word is unchanged, and all that ought to bless and 
honor his name, should be unchanged too ! ” 

“ Not ashore. That is the worst of the land ; it is all the 
while in motion, I tell you, though it looks so solid. If you 
plant a tree, and leave it, on your return from a three-years’ 
v’y’ge you don’t find it at all the sort of thing you left it. The 
towns grow, and new streets spring up, the wharves are altered, 
and the whole face of the earth undergoes change. Now a ship 
comes back from an India v’y’ge just the thing she sailed, 
bating the want of paint, wear and tear, and the accidents of 
the sea.” 

“ That is too true. Master Cap, and more’s the pity. Ah’s 
me ! — the things they call improvements and betterments are 
undermining and defacing the land ! The glorious works of 


THE PA THFINDEfi. 


s; 


God are daily cut down and destroyed, and the hand of maa 
seems to be upraised in contempt of his mighty will. They 
tell me there are fearful signs of what we may all come to, to 
be met with west and south of the great lakes, though I have 
never yet visited that region ! ” 

“ What do you mean, Pathfinder ? ” modestly inquired 
Jasper. 

“I mean the spots marked by the vengeance of Heaven, or 
which, perhaps, have been raised up as solemn warnings to the 
thoughtless and wasteful, hereaway. They call them prairies ; 
and I have heard as honest Delawares as I ever knew, declare 
that the finger of God has been laid so heavily on them, that 
they are ^together without trees. This is an awful visitation 
to befall innocent ’arth, and can only mean to show to what 
frightful consequences a heedless desire to destroy may lead.” 

“ And yet I have seen settlers who have much fancied these 
open spots, because they saved them the toil of clearing. You 
relish your bread, Pathfinder, and yet wheat will not ripen in 
the shade.” 

“ But honesty will, and simple wishes, and a love of God, 
Jasper. Even Master Cap will tell you a treeless plain must 
resemble a desert island.” 

“ Why, that’s as it may be,” put in Cap. “ Desert islands, 
too, have their uses, for they serve to correct the reckonings 
by. If my taste is consulted, I should never quarrel with a 
plain for wanting trees. As nature has given a man eyes to 
look about with, and a sun to shine, were it not for ship-build- 
ing, and now and then a house, I can see no great use in a 
tree, especially one that don’t bear monkeys or fruit.” 

To this remark the guide made no answer, beyond a low 
sound, intended to enjoin silence on his companions. While 
the desultory conversation just related had been carried on in 
subdued voices, the canoes were dropping slowly down with the 
current, within the deep shadows of the western shore, the pad- 
dles being used merely to preserve the desired direction and 
proper positions. The strength of the stream varied materi- 
ally, the water being seemingly still in places, while in other 
reaches it flowed at a rate exceeding two or even three miles 
in the hour. On the rifts it even dashed forward with a velocity 
that was appalling to the unpractised eye. Jasper was of opin- 
ion that they might drift down with the current to the mouth of 
the river in two hours from the time they left the shore, and he 
and the Pathfinder had agreed on the expediency of suffering 
the canoes ro float of themselves for a time, or at least until 


88 


7iJ/£ PATHFINDER. 


they had passed the first dangers of their new movements. The 
dialogue had been carried on in voices, too, guardedly low ; 
for, though the quiet of deep solitude reigned in that vast and 
nearly boundless forest. Nature was speaking with her thousand 
tongues, in the eloquent language of night in a wilderness. 
The air sighed through ten thousand trees, the water rippled, 
and at places, even roared along the shores ; and now and 
then was heard the creaking of a branch ; or a trunk, as it rubbed 
against some object similar to itself, under the vibrations of a 
nicely-balanced body. All living sounds had ceased. Once, 
it is true, the Pathfinder fancied he heard the howl of a distant 
wolf, of which a few prowled through these woods, but it was a 
'.ransient and doubtful cry, that might possibly ha\*e been at- 
tributed to the imagination. When he desired his companions, 
however, to cease talking, in the manner just mentioned, his 
vigilant ear had caught the peculiar sound that is made by the 
parting of a dried branch of a tree, and which, if his senses did 
not deceive him, came from the western shore. All who are 
accustomed to that particular sound, will understand how read- 
ily the ear receives it, and how easy it is to distinguish the tread 
which breaks the branch from every other noise of the forest. 

‘‘ There is the footstep of a man on the bank,” said Path- 
finder to Jasper, speaking neither in a whisper nor yet in a 
voice loud enough to be heard at any distance. “ Can the ac- 
cursed Iroquois have crossed the river already, with their arms, 
and without a boat ? ” 

“ It may be the Delaware ! He would follow us of course 
down this bank, and would know where to look for us. Let me 
draw closer in to the shore, and reconnoitre.” 

“ Go, boy, but be light with the paddle, and on no account 
ventur’ ashore on an onsartainty.” 

“ Is this prudent ? ” demanded Mabel, with an impetuosity 
that rendered her incautious in modulating her sweet voice. 

“ Very imprudent, if you speak so loud, fair one. I like 
your voice, which is soft and pleasing, after listening so long 
to the tones of men ; but it must not be heard too much, or 
too frequently, just now. Your father, the honest sergeant, will 
tell you, when you meet him, that silence is a double virtue on 
a trial. Go, Jasper, and do justice to your own character foi 
prudence.” 

Ten anxious minutes succeeded the disappearance of the 
canoe of Jasper, which glided away from that of the Pathfinder 
so noiselessly that it had been swallowed up in the gloom be- 
fore Mabel allowed herself to believe the young man wouH 


THE PATHFINDER. 


89 


really venture alone on a service that struck her imagination as 
singularly dangerous. During this time the party continued to 
float with the current, no one speaking, and it might almost be 
said no one breathing, so strong was the general desire to catch 
the minutest sound that should come from the shore. But the 
same solemn, we might indeed say sublime, quiet reigned as 
before ; the washing of the water, as it piled up against some 
slight obstruction, and the sighing of the trees, alone inter- 
rupting the slumbers of the forest. At the end of the period 
mentioned the snapping of dried branches was again faintly 
heard, and the Pathfinder fancied that the sound of smothered 
voices reached him. 

“ 1 may be mistaken,” he said, “for the thoughts often 
fancy what the heart wishes : but them were notes like the low 
tones of the Delaware ! ” 

“ Do the dead of the savages ever walk ? ” demanded Cap. 

“ Ay, and run, too, in their happy hunting-grounds, but no- 
where else. A redskin finishes with the ’arth after the breath 
quits the body. It is not one of his gifts to linger around his 
wigwam when his hour has passed.” 

“ I see some object on the water,” whispered Mabel, whose 
eye had not ceased to dwell on the body of gloom with close 
intensity since the disappearance of Jasper. 

“ It is the canoe ! ” returned the guide, greatly relieved, 
“ All must be safe, or we should have heard from the lad.” 

In another minute the two canoes, which became visible to 
those they carried only as they drew near each other, again 
floated side by side, and the form of Jasper was recognized at 
the stern of his own boat. The figure of a second man was 
seated in the bow, and, as the ydung sailor so wielded his paddle 
as to bring the face of his companion near the eyes of the Path- 
finder and Mabel, they both recognized the person of the Dela- 
ware. 

“ Chingachgook — my brother ! ” said the guide, in the dia- 
lect of the other’s people, a tremor shaking his voice that be- 
trayed the strength of his feelings — “ chief of the Mohicans ! 
mv heart is very glad. Often have we passed through blood 
and strife together, but I was afraid it was never to be so 
again.” 

“ Hugh ! — Mingoes— squaws !— three of their scalps hang 
at rny girdle. They do not know how to strike the Great Ser- 
pent of the Delawares. Their hearts have no blood, and their 
thoughts are on their return path, across the waters of the 
Great Lake.” 


90 


THE PA THFINDER. 


“ Have you been among them, chief ? and what has become 
of the warrior who was in the river ? ” 

“ He has turned into a fish, and lies at the bottom with the 
eels ! Let his brothers bait their hooks for him. Pathfinder, I 
have counted the enemy, and have touched their rifles.” 

“ Ah ! I thought he would be venturesome ! ” exclaimed 
the guide, in English. “ The risky fellow has been in the 
midst of them, and has brought us back their whole history. 
Speak, Chingachgook, and I will make our friends as knowing 
as ourselves.” 

The Delaware now related, in a low, earnest manner, the 
substance of all his discoveries since he was last seen struggling 
with his foe in the river. Of the fate of his antagonist he said 
no more, it not being usual for a warrior to boast in his more 
direct and useful narratives. As soon as he had conquered in 
that fearful strife, however, he swam to the eastern shore, 
landed with caution, and wound his way in among the Iroquois, 
concealed by the darkness, undetected, and, in the main, even 
unsuspected. Once, indeed, he had been questioned, but an- 
swering that he was Arrowhead, no further inquiries were made. 
By the passing remarks, he soon ascertained that the party 
was out expressly to intercept Mabel and her uncle, concerning 
whose rank, however, they had evidently been deceived. He 
also ascertained enough to justify the suspicion that Arrowhead 
had betrayed them to their enemies, for some motive that it 
was not no\w easy to reach, as he had not yet received the re- 
ward for his services. 

Pathfinder communicated no more of this intelligence to 
his companions than he thought might relieve their apprehen- 
sions, intimating, at the same time, that now was the moment 
for exertion, the Iroquois not having entirely recovered from the 
confusion created by their losses. 

“ We shall find them at the rift, I make no manner of 
doubt,” he continued, “ and there it will be our fate to pass 
them or to fall into their hands. The distance to the garrison 
will then be so short, that I have been thinking of the plan of 
landing with Mabel, myself, that I may take her in by some of 
the by-ways and leave the canoes to their chances in the rapids.” 

“ It will never succeed. Pathfinder,” eagerly interrupted 
Jasper. “ Mabel is not strong enough to tramp the woods in 
a night like this. Put her in my skiff, and I will lose my life, 
or carry her through the rift safely, dark as it is.” 

“ No doubt you will, lad ; no one doubts your willingness to 
do anything to sarve the sergeant’s daughter : but it must b® 


THE PATHFINDER, 


9 ^ 


the eye of Providence, and not your own, that will lake you 
safely through the Oswego rift in a night like this.” 

“ And who will lead her safely to the garrison if she land ? 
Is not the night as dark on shore as on water ? or do you think 
I know less of my calling than you know of yours ? ” 

“ Spiritedly said, lad ; but if I should lose my way in the 
dark, and I believe no man can say truly that such a thing ever 
yet happened to me — but, if I should lose my way, no other 
harm would come of it than to pass a night in the forest ; 
whereas a false turn of the paddle, or a broad sheer of the 
canoe, would put you and the young woman into the river, out 
of which, it is more than probable, the sergeant’s daughter 
would never come alive.” 

“ I will leave it to Mabel herself ; I am certain that she will 
feel more secure in the canoe.” 

“ I have great confidence in you both,” answered the girl, 
and have no doubt that either wall do all he can to prove to 
my father how much he values him ; but I confess I should not 
like to quit the canoe, with the certainty we have of there being 
enemies like those we have seen in the forest. But my uncle 
can decide for me in this matter.” 

“ I have no liking for the woods,” said Cap, “ while one 
has a clear drift like this on the river. Besides, Master Path- 
finder, to say nothing of the savages, you overlook the sharks.” 

“ Sharks ! who ever heard of sharks in the wilderness ? ” 

“ Ay ! sharks, or bears, or w^olves — no matter what you call 
a thing, so it has the mind and power to bite.” 

“ Lord, lord, man ; do you dread any creature that is to be 
found in the American forest? A catamount is askeary animal, 
I will allow, but then it is nothing in the hands of a practised 
hunter. Talk of the Mingoes and their deviltries, if you will ; 
but do not raise a false alarm about bears and wolves.” 

“ Ay, ay, Master Pathfinder, this is all well enough for you, 
who probably know the name of every creature you would meet. 
Use is everything, and it makes a man bold when he might oth- 
erwise be bashful. I have known seamen in the low latitudes 
swim for hours at a time among sharks fifteen or twenty feet 
long, and think no more of what they were doing than a coun- 
tryman thinks of whom he is among, when he comes out of a 
church-door of a Sunday afternoon.” 

“This is extraordinary!” exclaimed Jasper, who in good 
sooth had not yet acquired that material part of his trade, the 
ability to spin a yarn. “I have always heard that it was cer 
tain death to venture in the water among sharks I ” 


92 


THE PATHFINDER, 


“I forgot to say thaX the lads always took capstan-bais, oi 
gunners’ hand spikes, or crows with them, to rap the beasts 
over the noses, if they got to be troublesome. No — no — I 
have no liking for bears and wolves, though a whale, in my eye, 
is very much the same sort of fish as a red-herring, after it is 
dried and salted. Mabel and I had better stick to the canoe.” 

“Mabel would do well to change canoes,” added Jasper. 
“ This of mine is empty, and even Pathfinder will allow that 
my eye is surer than his own on the water.” 

“ That I will cheerfully, boy. The water belongs to your 
gifts, and no one will deny that you have improved them to 
the utmost. You are right enough in believing that the ser- 
geant’s daughter will be safer in your canoe than in this ; and 
though I would gladly keep her near myself, I have her wel- 
fare too much at heart not to give her honest advice. Bring 
your canoe close alongside, Jasper, and I will give you what 
you must consider a very precious treasure.” 

“ I do consider it,” returned the youth, not losing a moment 
in complying with the request, when Mabel passed from one 
canoe to the other, taking her seat on the effects which had 
hitherto composed its sole cargo. 

As soon as the arrangement was made, the canoes separated 
a short distance, and the paddles were used, though with great 
care to avoid making any noise. The conversation gradually 
ceased, and as the dreaded rift was approached, all became im- 
pressed with the gravity of the moment. That their enemies 
would endeavor to reach this point before them was almost 
certain ; and it seemed so little probable any one should at- 
tempt to pass it, in the profound obscurity which reigned, that 
Pathfinder was confident parties were on both sides of the river 
in the hope of intercepting theiti when they might land. He 
would not have made the proposal he did, had he not felt sure 
of his own ability to convert this very anticipation of success 
into a means of defeating the plans of the Iroquois. As the 
arrangement now stood, however, everything depended on the 
skill of those who guided the canoes ; for, should either hit a 
rock, if not split asunder, it would almost certainly be upset, 
and then would come not only all the hazards of the river it- 
self, but, for Mabel, the • certainty of falling into the hands of 
her pursuers. The utmost circumspection consequently be- 
came necessary, and each one v;as too much engrossed with 
his own thoughts to feel a disposition to utter more than was 
called for by the exigencies of the case. 

As the canoes stole silently along, the roar of the rift be 


THE PATHFINDER. 


93 


came audible, and it required all the fortitude of Cap to keep 
his seat while these boding sounds were approached, amid a 
darkness that scarcely permitted a view of the outlines of the 
wooded shore, and of the gloomy vault above his head. He 
retained a vivid impression of the falls, and his imagination 
was not now idle in swelling the dangers of the rift to a level 
with those of the headlong descent he had that day made, and 
even to increase them, under the influence of doubt and un- 
certainty. In' this, however, the old mariner was mistaken, 
for the Oswego Rift and the Oswego Falls are very different 
in their characters and violence ; the former being no more 
than a rapid that glances among shallows and rocks, while 
the latter really deserved the name it bore, as has been already 
shown. 

Mabel certainly felt distrust and apprehension ; but her 
entire situation was so novel, and her reliance on her guide 
so great, that she retained a self-command that might not have 
existed had she clearer perceptions of the truth, or been better 
acquainted with the helplessness of men, when placed in op- 
position to the power and majesty of Nature. 

“This is the spot you have mentioned ? ” she said to Jas- 
per, when the roar of the rift came fresh and distinct on her 
ear. 

“ It is ; and I beg you to have confidence in me. We are 
not old acquaintances, Mabel, but we live many days in one, 
in this wilderness. I think already that I have knowij you 
years.” 

“ And I do not feel as if you were a stranger to me, Jasper, 
I have every reliance on your skill, as well as on your disposi- 
tion to serve me.” 

“We shall see — we shall see. Pathfinder is striking the 
rapids too near the centre of the river. The bed of the water 
is closer to. the eastern shore ; but I cannot make him hear me 
now. Hold firmly to the canoe, Mabel, and fear nothing.” 

At the next moment, the swift current sucked them into the 
rift, and for three or four minutes the awestruck rather than 
the alarmed girl saw nothing around her but sheets of glancing 
foam; heard nothing but the roar of waters. Twenty times 
did the canoe appear about to dash against some curling and 
bright wave, that showed itself even amid that obscurity, and 
as often did it glide away again unharmed, impelled by the 
vigorous arm of him who governed its movements. Once, and 
once only, did Jasper seem to lose command of his frail bark, 
during which brief space it fairly whirled entirely round ; but, 


94 


THE PA THFINDER, 


by a desperate effort, he brought it again under control, re* 
covered the lost channel, and was soon rewarded for all his 
anxiety by finding himself floating quietly in the deep water 
below the rapids, secure from every danger and without having 
taken in enough of the element to serve for a draught. 

“ All is over, Mabel,” the young man cheerfully cried. 
“ The danger is past, and you may now, indeed, hope to meet 
your father this very might.” 

“ God be praised ! Jasper, we shall owe this great hap 
piness to you ! ” 

‘‘ The Pathfinder m.ay claim a full share in the merit ; but 
what has become of the other canoe ? ” 

“ I see something near us on the water ; is it not the boat 
of our friends t ” 

A few strokes of the paddle brought J asper at the side of 
the object in question. It was the other canoe, empty and 
bottom upward. No sooner did the young man ascertain this 
fact, than he began to search for the swimmers ; and, to his 
great joy. Cap was soon discovered drifting down with the cur- 
rent ; the old seaman preferring the chances of drowning to 
those of landing among savages. He was hauled into the 
canoe, though not without difficulty, and then the search ended ; 
for Jasper was persuaded that the Pathfinder would wade to 
the shore, the water being shallow, in preference to abandon- 
ing his beloved rifle. 

The remainder of the passage was short, though made amid 
darkness and doubt. After a short pause, a dull, roaring sound 
was heard, which at times resembled the mutterings of distant 
thunder, and then again brought with it the washing of waters. 
Jasper announced to his companions that they now heard the 
surf of the lake. Low, curved spits of land lay before them, 
into the bay formed by one of which the canoe glided, and then 
it shot up noiselessly upon a gravelly beach. Tbe transition 
that followed was so hurried and great, that Mabel scarce knew 
what passed. In the course of a few minutes, howev^^r, sentinels 
had been passed, a gate was opened, and the agitaW girl found 
herself in the arms of a parent who was almost a j^tranger to 
her. 


THE PATHFINDER, 


95 


CHAPTER VUL 

** A land of love, and a land of light, 

Witliouten sun, or moon, or night: 

Where the river swa'd a living stream . 

And the light a pure celestial beam ; 

The land of vision, it would seem ^ 

A still, an everlasting dream.” 

—Queen’s Wak« 

The rest that succeeds fatigue, and which attends a newly 
awakened sense of security, is generally sweet and deep. Such 
was the fact with Mabel, who did not rise from her humble 
pallet, such a bed as a sergeant’s daughter might claim in a 
remote frontier post, until long after the garrison had obeyed 
the usual summons of the drums, and had assembled at the 
early parade. Sergeant Dunham, on whose shoulders fell the 
task of attending to these ordinary and daily duties, had got 
through all his morning avocations, and was beginning to think 
of his breakfast, ere his child left her room and came into fresh 
air, equally bewildered, delighted and grateful, at the novelty 
and security of her new situation. 

At the time of which we are writing, Oswego was one of 
the extreme frontier posts of the British possessions on this 
continent. It had not been long occupied, and was garrisoned 
by a battalion of a regiment that had been originally Scotch, 
but into which many Americans had been received, since its 
arrival in this country — an innovation that had led the way to 
Mabel’s father filling the humble but responsible situation of 
the oldest sergeant. A few young officers, also, who were na- 
tives of the colonies, were to be found in the corps. The fort 
itself, like most works of that character, was better adai ted to 
resist an attack of savages than to withstand a regular siege ; 
but the great difficulty of transporting heavy arfillery and other 
necessaries rendered the occurrence of the latter a probability 
so remote, as scarcely to enter into the estimate of the engineers 
who had planned the defences. There were bastions of earth 
and logs, a dry ditch, a stockade, a parade of considerable ex- 
tent, and barracks of logs, that answered the double purpose 
of dwellings and fortifications. A few light field-pieces stood 
in the area of the fort, ready to be conveyed to any point where 
they might be wanted ; and one or two heavy iron guns looked 


THE PATHFINDER. 


96 

out from the summits of the advanced angles, as so many ad- 
monitions to the audacious to respect their power. 

When Mabel, quitting the convenient but comparatively re- 
tired hut, where her father had been permitted to place her, 
issued into the pure air of the morning, she found herself at the 
foot of a bastion that lay invitingly before her, with a promise 
of giving a coup d'^ocil of all that had been concealed in the dark 
ness of the preceding night. Tripping up the grassy ascent, 
the light-hearted as well as light-footed girl found herself at 
once on a point where the sight, at a few varying glances, could 
take in all the external novelties of her new situation. 

To the southward lay the forest through which she had 
been journeying so many weary days, and which had proved so 
full of dangers. It was separated from the stockade by a belt 
of open land, that had been principally cleared of its woods to 
fcrm the martial constructions around her. This glacis, for 
such in fact was its military uses, might have covered a hundred 
acres, but with it every sign of civilization ceased. All be3^ond 
was forest — that dense, interminable forest that Mabel could 
now picture to herself, through her recollections, with its hid- 
den, glassy lakes, its dark, rolling streams, and its world of 
Nature ! 

Turning from this view, our heroine felt her cheek fanned 
by a fresh and grateful breeze, such as she had not experienced 
since quitting the far-distant coast. Here a new scene present- 
ed itself ; although expected, it was not without a start, and a 
low exclamation indicative of pleasure, that the eager eyes of 
the girl drank in its beauties. To the north, and east, and 
west, in every direction, in short, over one entire half of the 
novel panorama, lay a field of rolling waters. The element was 
neither of that glassy green which distinguishes the American 
waters in general, nor yet of the deep blue of the ocean ; the 
color being of a slightly amber hue, that scarcely affected its 
limpidity. No land was to be seen, with the exception of the 
adjacent coast, which stretched to the right and left, in an un- 
broken outline of forest, with wide bays and low headlands of 
points ; still, much of the shore was rocky, and into its caverns 
the sluggish waters occasionally rolled, producing a hollow 
sound, that resembled the concussions of a distant gun. No 
sail whitened the surface, no whale or other fish gambolled on 
its bosom, no sign of use or service rewarded the longest and 
most minute gaze of its boundless expanse. It was a scene, on 
one side, of apparently endless forests, while a waste of seem- 
ingly interminable water spread itself on the other. Nature 


THE PA THFINDER. 


97 

had appeared to delight in producing grand effects, by setting 
two of her principal agents in bold relief to each other, ne- 
glecting details ; the eye turning from the broad carpet of leaves 
to the still broader field of fluid, from the endless but gentle 
heavings of the lake to the holy calm and poetical solitude of 
the forest, with wonder and delight. 

Mabel Dunham, though unsophisticated, like most of her 
countrywomen at that period, and ingenuous and frank as any 
warm-hearted and sincere-minded girl well could be, v;as not 
altogether without a feeling for the poetry of this beautiful 
earth of ours. Although she could scarcely be said to be edu- 
cated at all, for few of her sex, at that day, and in this country, 
received much more than the rudiments of plain English in- 
struction, still she had been taught much more than was usual 
for young women in her own station of life, and, in one sense 
certainly, she did credit to her teaching. The widow of a field- 
officer, who formerly belonged to the same regiment as her 
father, had taken the child in charge at the death of its mother, 
and, under the care of this lady, Mabel had acquired some 
tastes and many ideas, which otherwise might always have re- 
mained strangers to her. Her situation in the family had been 
less that of a domestic than of an humble companion, and the 
results were quite apparent in her attire, her language, her 
sentiments, and even in her feelings, though neither, perhaps, 
rose to the level of those which would properly characterize a 
lady. She had lost the coarser and less refined habits and man- 
ners of one in her original position, without having quite reached 
a point that disqualified her for the situation in life that the 
accidents of birth and fortune would probably compel her to 
fill. All else that was distinctive and peculiar to her belonged 
to natural character. 

With such antecedents, it will occasion the reader no won- 
der if he learn that Mabel viewed the novel scene before her 
with a pleasure far superior to that produced by vulgar surprise. 
She felt its ordinary beauties as most would have felt them, 
but she had also a feeling for its sublimity — for that softened 
solitude, that calm grandeur and eloquent repose, that ever 
pervade broad views of natural objects which are yet undis- 
turbed by the labors and struggles of man. 

“ How beautiful ! ” she exclaimed, unconscious of speakingj 
as she stood on the solitary bastion, facing the air from the 
lake, and experiencing the genial influence of its freshness 
pervading both her body and her mind — “ how very beautiful j 
and yet how- singular ! ” 


98 


THE PATHFINDER. 


The words, ami the train of her ideas, were interrupted 
a touch of a finger on her shoulder, and turning, in the expecta' 
tion of seeing her father, Mabel found Pathfinder at her side. 
He was leaning quietly on his long rifle, and laughing in his 
quiet manner, while, with an outstretched arm, he swept over 
the whole panorama of land and water. 

“Here you have both our domains,” he said, “Jasper’s and 
mine. The lake is for him and the woods are for me. The lad 
sometimes boasts of the breadth of his dominions, but I tell him 
my trees make as broad a plain on the face of this ’arth as ali 
his water. Well, Mabel, you are fit for either, for I do not see 
that fear of the Mingoes, or night-marches, can destroy youi 
pretty looks.” 

“ It is a new character for the Pathfinder to appear in, to 
compliment a silly girl.” 

“ Not silly, Mabel ; no, not in the least silly. The sergeant’s 
daughter would do discredit to her worthy father, were she to 
do or say anything that, in common honesty, could be called 
silly.” 

“ Then she must take care and not put too much faith in 
treacherous, flattering words. But, Pathfinder, I rejoice to see 
you among us again ; for, though Jasper did not seem to feel 
much uneasiness, I was afraid some accident might have hap 
pened to you and your friend on that frightful rift.” 

The lad knows us both, and was sartain that we should 
not drown, which is scarcely one of my gifts. It would have 
been hard swimming, of a sartainty, with a long barrelled rifle 
in the hand ; and, what between the game, and the savages, 
and the French, Killdeer and I have gone through too much 
in company to part very easily. No — no — we waded ashore, 
the rift being shallow enough for that, with small exceptions, 
and we landed with our arms in our hands. We had to take 
our time for it, on account of the Iroquois, I will own ; but as 
soon as the skulking vagabonds saw the lights which the ser- 
geant sent down to your canoe, we well understood they would 
decamp, since a visit might have been expected from some of 
the garrison. So it was only sitting patiently on the stones, for 
an hour, and all the danger was over. Patience is the greatest 
of virtues in a woodsman.” 

“ I rejoice to hear this, for fatigue itself could scarcely make 
me sleep, for thinking what might befall you.” 

“ Lord bless your tender little heart, Mabel ! But this is 
the way with all you gentle ones. I must say, on my part, how- 
soever, that I was right glad to see the lanterns come dow« 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


99 

to the waterside, which I knew to be a sure sign of your safety. 
We hunters and guides are rude beings, but we have our feel- 
in’s, our idees, as well as any giniral in the army. Both Jasper 
and I would have died before you should have come to harm — 
we would.” 

“ I thank you for all you did for me. Pathfinder ; from the 
bottom of my heart I thank you, and, depend on it, my father 
shall know it. I have already told him much, but still have a 
duty to perform on this subject.” 

“Tush, Mabel! The sergeant knows what the woods be, 
and what men — true red men be too. There is little need to 
tell him anything about it. Well, now you have met your 
father, do you find the honest old soldier the sort of person you 
expected to find t ” 

“ He is my own dear father, and received me as a soldier 
and a father should receive a child. Have you known him 
long. Pathfinder ? ” 

“ That is as people count time. I was just twelve when 
the sergeant took me on my first scouting, and that is now more 
than twenty years ago. We had a tramping time of it, and, as 
it was before your day, you would have had no father, had not 
the rifle been one of my nat’ral gifts.” 

“ Explain yourself.” 

“ It is too simple for many words. We were ambushed, 
and the sergeant had got a bad hurt, and would have lost his 
scalp but for a sort of inbred turn I took to the weapon. We 
brought him off, however, and a handsomer head of hair, for 
his time of life, is not to be found in the rijiment that the ser- 
geant carries about him this blessed day.” 

“ You saved my father’s life. Pathfinder I ” exclaimed Mabel, 
unconsciously, though warmly taking one of his hard, sinewy 
hands into both her own. “ God bless you for this, too, among 
your other good acts ! ” 

“ Nay, I did not say that much, though I believe I did save 
his scalp. A man might live without a scalp, and so I cannot 
say I saved his life. Jasper may say that much consarning 
you ; for, without his eye and arm the canoe would never have 
passed the rift in safety on a night like the last. The gifts 
of the lad are for the water, while mine are for the hunt and 
the trail. He is yonder in the cove there, looking after the 
canoes, and keeping an eye on his beloved little craft. To my 
eye, there is no likelier youth in these parts than Jasper 
Western.” 

For the first time since she had left her room, Mabel now 


100 


THE PATHFINDER. 


turned her eyes beneath her, and got a view of what might be 
called the foreground of the remarkable picture she had been 
studying with so much pleasure. The Oswego threw its dark 
waters into the lake between banks of some height ; that on its 
eastern side being bolder and projecting farther north than that 
on its western. The fort was on the latter, and immediately 
beneath it were a few huts of logs, which, as they could not in- 
terfere with the defence of the place, had been erected along 
the strand for the purpose of receiving and containing such 
stores as were landed, or were intended to be embarked, in the 
communications between the different ports on the shores of 
Ontario. There were two low, curved, gravelly points, that had 
been formed, with surprising regularity, by the counteracting 
forces of the northerly winds and the swift current, and which, 
inclining from the storms of the lake, formed two coves within 
the river. That on the western side was the most deeply in- 
dented, and, as it also had the most water, it formed a sort of 
picturesque little port for the post. It was along the narrow 
strand that lay between the low height of the fort and the water 
of this cove that the rude buildings just mentioned had been 
erected. 

Several skiffs, batteaux, and canoes, were hauled up on the 
shore, and in the cove itself lay the little craft from which 
Jasper obtained his claim to be considered a sailor. She was 
cutter- rigged, might have been of forty tons burden, was so 
neatly constructed and painted as to have something of the air 
of a vessel-of-war, though entirely without quarters, and rigged 
and sparred with so scrupulous a regard to proportions and 
beauty, as well as fitness and judgment, as to give her an 
appearance that even Mabel at once distinguished to be gallant 
and trim. Her mold was admirable, for a wright of great skill 
had sent her drafts from England, at the express request of 
the officer who had caused her to be constructed ; her paint, 
dark, warlike and neat ; and the long, coach-whip pennant that 
she wore at once proclaimed her to be the property of the king. 
Her name was the Scud. 

“That, then, is the vessel of Jasper!” said Mabel, who 
associated the master of the little craft quite naturally with 
the cutter itself. “ Are there many others on this lake ? ” 

“ The Trenchers have three ; one of which, they tell me, is 
a real ship, such as are used on the ocean, another a brig, and 
a third a cutter, like the Scud, here, which they call the Squir- 
rel, in their own tongue, however ; and which seems to have a 


THE PATHFINDER. 


lOI 


natural hatred of our own pretty boat, for Jasper seldom goes 
out that the Squirrel is not at his heels.” 

“ And is Jasper one to run from a Frenchman, though he 
appears in the shape of a squirrel, and that, too, on the water ? ” 

“ Of what use would valor be without means of turning it to 
account ? Jasper is a brave boy, as all on this frontier know; 
but he has no gun, except a little howitzer, and then his crew 
consists of only two men besides himself, and a boy. I was 
with him in one of his trampooses, and the youngster was risky 
enough, for he brought us so near the enemy that the rifles 
began to talk ; but the Frenchers carry cannon, and ports, and 
never show their faces outside of Frontenac without having 
some twenty men, besides their Squirrel, in their cutter. No — 
no — this Scud was built for flying, and the major says he will 
not put her in a fighting humor by giving her men and arms, 
lest she should take him at his word, and get her wings clipped. 
I know little of these things, for my gifts are not in that way ; 
but I see the reason of the thing — I see its reason, though 
Jasper does not.” 

“ Ah ! here is my uncle, none the worse for his swim, coming 
to look at this inland sea.” 

Sure enough, Cap, who had announced his approach by a 
couple of lusty hems, now made his appearance on the bastion, 
where, after nodding to his niece and her companion, he made 
a deliberate survey of the expanse of water before him. In 
order to effect this at his ease, the mariner mounted on one of 
the old iron guns, folded his arms across his breast, and 
balanced his body, as if he felt the motion of a vessel. To 
complete the picture, he had a short pipe in his mouth. 

“Well, Master Cap,” asked the Pathfinder, innocently, 
for he did not detect the expression of contempt that was gra- 
dually settling on the features of the other, “ is it not a beautiful 
sheet, and fit to be named a sea 1 ” 

“ This, then, is what you call your lake ? ” demanded Cap, 
sweeping the northern horizon with his pipe. “ I say, is this 
really 3 ^our lake ? ” 

“ Sartain ; and, if the judgment of one who has lived on 
the shores of many others can be taken, a very good lake 
it is.” 

“ Just as I expected ! A pond in dimensions, and a scuttle- 
butt in taste. It is all ini vain to travel inland, in the hope of 
seeing anything either full grown or useful. I knew it would 
turn out just in this way.” 

“ What is the matter with Ontario, Master Cap ? It is large^ 


102 


THE PATHFINDER. 


and fair to look at, and pleasant enough to drink, for those who 
cannot get at the water of the springs.” 

“ Do you call this large .? ” asked Cap, again sweeping the 
air with the pipe. “ I will just ask you what there is large 
about it ? Didn’t Jasper himself confess that it was only some 
twenty leagues from shore to shore ? ” 

“ But, uncle,” interposed Mabel, “ no land is to be seen, 
except here on our own coast. To me it looks exactly like the. 
ocean.” 

“ This bit of a pond look like the ocean ! Well, Magnet, 
that from a girl who has had real seamen in her family is down- 
right nonsense. What is there about it, pray, that has even the 
outline of a sea on it } 

‘‘Why, there is water — water — water — nothing but water, 
for miles on miles, far as the eye can see.” 

“ And isn’t there water — water — water — nothing but water 
for miles on miles in your rivers, that you have been canoeing 
through, too ? — ay, and ‘ as far as the eye can see,’ in the 
bargain ? ” 

“ Yes, uncle, but the rivers have their banks, and there are 
trees along them, and they are narrow.” 

“ And isn’t this a bank where we stand — don’t these soldiers 
call this the bank of the lake, and ar’n’t there trees in thousands, 
and ar’n’t twenty leagues narrow enough of all conscience } 
Who the devil ever heard of the banks of the ocean, unless it 
might be the banks that are under the water ? ” 

“But, uncle, we cannot see across this lake, as we can see 
across a river.” 

“There you are out. Magnet. Ar’n’t the Amazon, and 
Orinoco, and La Plata rivers, a’nd can you see across them ? 
Harkee, Pathfinder, I very much doubt if this strip of water 
here be even a lake ; for to me it appears to be only a river. 
You are by no means particular about your geography, I find, 
up here, in the woods.” 

“ There you are out. Master Cap. There is a river and a 
noble one, too, at each end of it; but this is old Ontario before 
you, and, though it is not my gift to live on a lake, to my judg- 
ment there are few better than this.” 

“And, uncle, if we stood on the beach at Rockaway, what 
more should we see than we now behold } There is a shore 
on one side, or banks there, and trees, too, as well as those 
which are here.” 

“ This is perverseness. Magnet, and young girls should 
steer clear of anything like obstinacy. In the first place, the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


X03 

ocean has coasts, but no banks, except the Grand Banks, as I 
tell you, which are out of sight of land ; and you will not pre- 
tend that this bank is out of sight of land, or even under water ! 

As Mabel could not very plausibly set up this extravagant 
opinion. Cap pursued the subject, his countenance beginning 
to discover the triumph of a successful disputant . 

“ And then them trees bear no comparison to these trees. 
The coasts of the ocean have farms, and cities, and country- 
seats, and, in some parts of the world, castles and monasteries 
and light-houses — ay, ay, light-houses, in particular, on them ; 
not one of all which things is to be seen here. No — no — Master 
Pathfinder, I never heard of an ocean that hadn’t more or less 
light-houses on it, whereas, hereaway, there is not even a 
beacon.” 

“There is what is better — there’s what is better; a forest 
and noble trees, a fit temple of God.” 

“ Ay, your forest may do for a lake, but of what use would 
an ocean be, if the earth all around it were forest ? Ships 
would be unnecessary, as timber might be floated in rafts, and 
there would be an end of trade, and what would a world be 
without trade ! I am of that philisopher’s opinion, who says, 
human nature was invented for the purposes of trade. — Magnet, 
I am astonished that you should think this water even looks 
like sea-water ? — Now, I dare say that there isn’t such a thing 
as a whale in all your lake. Master Pathfinder ! ” 

“ I never heard of one, I will confess, but I am no judge of 
animals that live in the water, unless it be the fishes of the 
rivers and brooks.” 

“ Nor a grampus, nor a porpoise even ; not so much as a 
poor devil of a shark ? ” 

“ I will not take it on myself to say there is either. My 
gifts are not in that way, I tell you. Master Cap.” 

“ Nor herring, nor albatross, nor flyii^g hsh ” — continued 
Cap, who kept his eye fastened on the guide, in order to see 
hov far he might venture. “ No such thing as a fish that can 
fly, I dare sav ? ” 

“A fish that can fly! Master Cap — Master Cap, do not 
think because we are mere borderers, that we have no idees of 
Natur,’ and what she has been pleased to do. I know there 
are squirrels that can fly ” 

“ A squirrel fly "i — the devil. Master Pathfinder ! Do you 
suppose that you have got a boy on his first vy’ge, up here 
among you ? ” 

“I know nothing of your v’y’ges. Master Cap, though J 


104 


THE PA THFINDER. 


suppose them to have been many ; but, as for what belongs to 
Natur’ in the woods, what I have seen I may tell, and not fear 
the face of man ? ” 

“ And do you wish me to understand that you have seen a 
squirrel fly ? ” 

“ Do you wish to understand the power of God, Master 
Cap, you will do well to believe that, and many other things of 
a like Natur,’ for you may be quite sartain it is true ? ” 

“And yet. Pathfinder,” said Mabel, looking so pretty and 
sweet even while she played with the guide’s infirmity, that he 
forgave her in his heart — “ you, who speak so reverently of the 
power of the Deity, appear to doubt that a fish can fly ! ” 

“ 1 have not said it — I have not said it : and if Master Cap 
is ready to testify to the fact, unlikely as it seems, I am willing 
to try to think it true. I think it every man’s duty to believe 
in the power of God, however difficult it may be.” 

“ And why isn’t my fish as likely to have wings as your squir- 
rel ? ” demanded Cap, with more logic than was in his wont. 
“ That fishes do and can fly, is as true as it is reasonable ” 

“ Nay, that is the only difficulty in believing the story,” 
rejoined the guide. “It seems onreasonable to give an animal 
that lives in the water wings, which seemingly can be of no use 
to them.” 

“ And do you suppose that the fishes are such asses as to 
fly about under water, when they are only fairly fitted out 
with wings ? ” 

“Nay, I know nothing of the matter, but that fish should 
fly in the air seems more contrary to Natur’ still, than that they 
should fly in their own quarters ; that in which they were born and 
brought up, as one might say.” 

“ So much for contracted ideas. Magnet. The fish fly out 
of water to run away from their enemies in the water ; and 
there you see not only the fact, but the reason for it.” 

“ Then I suppose it must be true,” said the guide, quietly. 

How long are their flights ? ” 

“Not quite as far as those of pigeons, perhaps, but far 
enough to make an offing. As for those squirrels of yours, 
we’ll say no more about them, friend Pathfinder, I suppose 
they were mentioned just as a make-weight of the fish in favor 
of the woods. But what is this thing, anchored here under the 
hill?” 

“ That is the cutter of Jasper, uncle,” said Mabel, hurried- 
/y — “ and a very pretty vessel I think it is. It’s name, too, is 
4ie Scud.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


105 

** Ay, it will do well enough for a lake, perhaps, but it’s no 
gieat affair. The lad has got a standing bowsprit, and who 
ever saw a cutter with a standing bowsprit before ? ” 

“ But may there not be some good reason for it, on a lake 
like this, uncle 1 ” 

“ Sure enough — I must remember this is not the ocean, 
though it does look so much like it.” 

“ Ah ! uncle, then Ontario does look like the ocean, after 
all ? ” 

“ In your eyes, I mean, and those of Pathfinder ; not in the 
least in mine. Magnet. Now you might set me down out yonder, 
in the middle of this bit of a pond, and that too in the darkest 
night that ever fell from the heavens, and in the smallest canoe", 
and I could tell you it was only a lake. For that matter the 
Dorothy ” (the name of his vessel) “ would find it out as quick 
as I could myself. I do not believe that brig would make more 
than a couple of short stretches at the most, before she would 
perceive the difference between Ontario and the old Atlantic. 
I once took her down into one of the larger South-American 
bays, and she behaved herself as awkwardly as a body would 
in a church, with the congregation in a hurry. And Jasper 
sails that boat ? I must have a cruise with the lad, Magnet, 
before I quit you, just for the name of the thing It would 
never do to say I got in sight of this pond, and went away with- 
out taking a trip on it.” 

“ Well, well, you needn’t wait long for that,” returned Path- 
finder — “ for the sergeant is about to depart with a party, to 
relieve a post among the Thousand Islands ; and, as I heard 
him say he intended that Mabel should go along, you can join 
company, too.” 

“ Is this true, Magnet ? ” 

“ I believe it is,” returned the girl, a flush, so imperceptible 
as to escape the observation of her companions, glowing on her 
cheeks, “ though I have had so little opportunity to talk with 
my dear father, that I am not quite certain. Here he comes, 
however, and you can inquire of himself.” 

Notwithstanding his humble rank, there was something in 
the mien and character of Sergeant Dunham that commanded 
respect. Of a tall, imposing figure, grave and saturine dispo- 
sition, and accurate and precise in his acts and manner of 
thinking, even Cap, dogmatical and supercilious as he usually 
was with landsmen, did not presume to take the same liberties 
with the old soldier as he did with his other friends. It was 
often remarked that Sergeant Dunham received more true re* 


io6 


THE PA THFINDER, 


spect from Duncan of Lundie, the Scotch laird who commanded 
the post, than most of the subalterns ; for experience and 
tried services were of quite as much value in the eyes of a 
veteran major, as birth and money. While the sergeant never 
even hoped to rise any higher, he so far respected himself and 
his present station as always to act in a way to command at- 
tention ; and the habit of mixing so much with inferiors, whose 
passions and disposition he felt it necessary to restrain by dis- 
tance and dignity, had so far colored his whole deportment 
that few were altogether free from its influence. While the 
captains treated him kindly and as an old comrade, the lieuten- 
ants seldom ventured to dissent from his military opinions ; 
and the ensigns, it was remarked, actually manifested a species 
of respect that amounted to something very like deference. It 
is no wonder, then, that the announcement of Mabel put a sudden 
termination to the singular dialogue we have just related, 
though it had been often observed that the Pathfinder was the 
only man on that frontier, beneath the condition of a gentleman, 
who presumed to treat the sergeant at all as an equal, or even 
with the cordial familiarity of a friend. 

“ Good-morrow, brother Cap,” said the sergeant, giving the 
military salute, as he walked in a grave, stately manner on the 
bastion. “ My morning duty has made me seem forgetful of 
you and Mabel, but we have now an hour or two to spare, and 
to get acquainted. Do you not perceive, brother, a strong like- 
ness in the girl to her we have so long lost } ” 

“ Mabel is the image of her mother, sergeant, as I have 
always said, with a little of your firmer figure ; though for that 
matter the Caps were never wanting in spring and activity.” 

Mabel cast a timid glance at the stern rigid countenance of 
her father, of whom she had ever thought as the warm-hearted 
dwell on the affection of their absent parents, and, as she saw 
that the muscles of his face were working, notwithstanding the 
stiffness and method of his manner, her very heart yearned 
to throw herself on his bosom, and to weep at will. But he was 
so much colder in externals, so much more formal and distant 
than she had expected to find him, that she would not have 
dared to hazard the freedom, even had they been alone. 

“You have taken a long and troublesome journey, brother, 
on my account, and we will try to make you comfortable while 
you stay among us.” 

“ I hear you are likely to receive orders to lift your anchor, 
sergeant, and to shift your berth into a part of the world where 
they say there are a thousand islands ? ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


107 

“ Pathfinder, this is some of your forgetfulness ” 

“Nay, nay, sergeant ; I forgot nothing, but it did not seem 
to me necessary to hide your intentions so very closely from 
your own flesh and blood.” 

“ All military movements ought to be made with as little 
conversation as possible,” returned the sergeant, tapping the 
guide’s shoulder, in a friendly but reproachful manner. “ You 
have passed too much of your life in front of the French not to 
know the value of silence. But, no matter ; the thing must 
soon be known, and there is no great use in trying, now, to 
conceal it. We shall embark a relief-party, shortly, for a post 
on the lake, though I do not say it is for the Thousand Islands, 
and I may have to go with it ; in which case I intend to take 
Mabel to make my broth for me, and I hope, brother, you will 
not despise a soldier’s fare, for a month or so.” 

“ That will depend on the manner of marching. I have no 
love for woods and swamps.” 

“ We shall sail in the Scud ; and, indeed, the whole service, 
which is no stranger to us, is likely enough to please one ac- 
customed to the water.” 

“ Ay, to salt-water, if you will, but not to lake-water. If 
you have no person to handle that bit of a cutter for you, I 
have no objection to ship for the v’y’ge, notwithstanding, 
though I shall look on the whole affair as so much time thrown 
away ; for I consider it an imposition to call sailing about this 
pond going to sea.” 

“Jasper is every way able to manage the Scud, brother 
Cap, and in that light I cannot say that we have need of your 
services, though we shall be glad of your company. You can- 
not return to the settlements until a party is sent in, and that is 
not likely to happen until after my return. — Well, Pathfinder, 
this is the first time I ever knew men on the trail of the Mingoes, 
and you not at their head.” 

“ To be honest with you, sergeant,” returned the guide, not 
without a little awkwardness of manner and a perceptible dif- 
ference in the hue of a face that had become so uniformly red 
by exposure, “ I have not felt that it was my gift, this morning. 
In the first place, I very well know that the soldiers of the 55th 
are not the lads to overtake Iroquois in the woods, and the 
knaves did not wait to be surrounded, when they knew that 
Jasper had reached the garrison. Then, a man may take a 
little rest, after a summer of hard work, and no impeachment of 
his good-will. Besides, the Sarpent is out with them, and if the 
miscreants are to be found at all, you may trust to his enmity 


THE PA THFINDER. 


toS 

and sight ; the first being stronger, and the last nearly, if not 
quite, as good as my own. He loves the skulking vagabonds 
as little as myself ; and for that matter, I may say that my own 
feelin’s toward a Mingo are not much more than the gifts of a 
Delaware grafted on a Christian stock. No — no — I thought I 
would leave the honor, this time, if honor there is to be, to the 
young ensign that commands, who if he don’t lose his scalp, 
may boast of his campaign in his letters to his mother, when he 
gets in. I thought I would play idler once in my life.” 

“ And no one has a better right, if long and faithful service 
entitles a man to a furlough,” returned the sergeant, kindly. 
** Mabel will think none the worse of you for preferring her com- 
pany to the trail of the savages : and, I daresay, will be happy 
to give you a part of her breakfast if you are inclined to eat. 
You must not think '^irl, however, that ti:e Pathfinder is in 
the habit of letiing prowlers cround the lort beat a retreat with- 
out hearing the crack of his rifle.” 

“ If I thought she did, sergeant, though not much given to 
showy and parade evolutions, I would shoulder Killdeer, and 
quit the garrison before her pretty eyes had time to frown. 
No — no — Mabel knows me better, though we are but new 
acquaintances, for there has been no want of Mingoes to 
enliven the short march w^e have already made in company.” 

“ It would need a great deal of testimony, Pathfinder, to 
make me think ill of you in any way, and more than all in the 
way you mention,” returned Mabel, coloring with the sincere 
earnestness with which she endeavored to remove any suspicion 
to the contrary from his mind. “ Both father and daughter, I 
believe, owe you their lives, and believe me that neither will 
ever forget it.” 

“ Thank you, Mabel, thank you with all my heart. But I 
will not take advantage of your ignorance neither, girl, and 
therefore shall say I do not think the Mingoes would have 
hurt a hair of your head, had they succeeded by their deviltries 
and contrivances in getting you into their hands. My scalp, 
and Jasper’s, and Master Cap’s there, and the Sarpent’s, too, 
would sartainly have been smoked ; but as for the sergeant’s 
daughter, I do not think they would have hurt a hair of her 
head ! ” 

“ And why should I suppose that enemies known to spare 
neither women nor children would have shown more mercy to 
me than to another ? I feel. Pathfinder, that I owe you my 
life.” 

“ I say nay, Mabel ; they wouldn’t have had the heart to 


THE PATHFINDER. 


109 

hurt you. No, not even a fiery Mingo devil would have had 
the heart to hurt a hair of your head ! Bad as I suspect the 
vampires to be, I do not suspect them of anything so wicked 
as that. They might have wished you — nay, forced you to 
become the wife of one of their chiefs, and that would be tor- 
ment enough to a Christian young woman ; but beyond that I 
do not think even the Mingoes themselves would have gone.’^ 

• “ Well, then, I shall owe my escape from this great mis- 
fortune to you,” said Mabel, taking his hand into her own, 
frankly and cordially, and certainly in a way to delight the 
honest guide. “ To me it would be a lighter evil to be killed 
than to become the wife of an Indian.” 

“ That is her gift, sergeant,” exclamed Pathfinder, turning 
to his old comrade, with gratification written on every linea- 
ment of his honest countenance, “ and it will have its way. I 
tell the Sarpent that no Christianizing will ever make even a 
Delaware a white man ; nor any whooping and yelling convart 
a paleface into a redskin. That is the gift of a young woman 
born of Christian parents, and it ought to be maintained.” 

“You are right, Pathfinder; and so far as Mabel Dunham 
is concerned, it shall be maintained. But it is time to break 
your fasts, and, if you will follow me, brother Cap, I will show 
you how we poor soldiers live, here on a distant frontier.” - 


CHAPTER IX. 


Now my co-mates and partners in exile. 

Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods 
More free from peril than the curious court? 

Here feel we but the penalty of Adam.” 

— ^As You Likb It. 


Sergeant Dunham made no empty vaunt when he gave 
the promise conveyed in the closing words of the last chapter. 
Notwithstanding the remote frontier position of the post, they 
who lived at it enjoyed a table that, in many respects, kings and 
princes might have envied. At the period of our tale, and in- 
deed for half a century later, the whole of that vast regioA 
which has been called the West, or the new countries, since 
the war of the Revolution, lay a comparatively unpeopled 


no 


THE PATHFINDER. 


desert, teeming with all the living productions of Nature that 
properly belonged to the climate, man and the domestic 
animals excepted. The few Indians that roamed its forests 
then could produce no visible effects on the abundance of the 
game ; and the scattered garrisons, or occasional hunters that 
here and there were to be met with on that vast surface, had 
no other influence than the bee on the buckwheat field, or the 
humming-bird on the flower. 

The marvels that have descended to our own times, in the 
way of tradition, concerning the qualities of beasts, birds, and 
fishes, that were then to be met with, on the shores of tlie 
great lakes in particular, are known to be sustained by the ex- 
perience of living men, else we might hesitate about relating 
them ; but, having been eye-witnesses of some of those prodigies, 
our office shall be discharged with the confidence that certainty 
can impart. Oswego was particularly well pleased to keep the 
larder of an epicure amply supplied. Fish of various sorts 
abounded in its river, and the sportsman had only to cast his 
line to haul in a bass, or some other member of the finny tribe, 
which then peopled the waters as the air above the swamps of 
this fruitful latitude is known to be filled with insects. Among 
others was the salmon of the lakes, a variety of that well- 
known species that is scarcely inferior to the delicious salmon 
of Northern Europe. Of the different migratory birds that 
frequent forests and waters, there was the same affluence, 
hundreds of acres of geese and ducks being often seen at a 
time in the great bays that indent the shores of the lake. Deer, 
bears, rabbits, and squirrels, with divers other quadrupeds, 
among which was sometimes included the elk, or moose, 
helped to complete the sum of the natural supplies on which 
all the posts depended, more or less, to relieve the unavoidable 
privations of their remote frontier positions. 

In a place where viands that would elsewhere be deemed 
great luxuries were so abundant, no one was excluded from 
their enjoyment. The meanest individual at Oswego habitually 
feasted on game that would have formed the boast of a Parisian 
table ; and it was no more than a healthful commentary on the 
caprices of taste and of the waywardness of human desires, 
that the very diet, which in other scenes would have been 
deemed the subject of envy and repinings, got to pall on the 
appetite. The coarse and regular food of the army, which it 
became necessary to husband on account of the difficulty of 
transportation, rose in the estimation of the common soldier, 
and at any time he would cheerfully desert his venison, and 


THE PATHFINDER. 


Ill 


ducks, and pigeons, and salmon, to banquet on the sweets of 
pickled pork, stringy turnips, and half-cooked cabbage. 

The table of Sergeant Dunham, as a matter of course, par- 
took of the abundance and luxuries of the frontier as well as 
of its privations. A delicious broiled salmon smoked on a 
homely platter, hot venison steaks sent up their appetizing 
odors, and several dishes of cold meats, all of which were com- 
posed of game, had been set before the guests in honor of the 
newly-arrived visitors, and in vindication of the old soldier’s 
hospitality. 

“ You do not seem to be on short allowance in this quarter 
of the world, sergeant,” said Cap, after he had got fairly 
initiated into the mysteries of the different dishes ; “ your sal- 
mon might satisfy a Scotsman.” 

“ It fails to do it, notwithstanding, brother Cap, for, among 
two or three hundred of the fellows that we have in this garri- 
son, there are not half a dozen who will not swear that the fish 
is unfit to be eaten. Even some of the lads, who never tasted 
venison except as poachers at home, turn up their noses at the 
fattest haunches that we get here.” 

“ Ay, that is Christian natur’,” put in Pathfinder, “ and I 
must say it is none to its credit. Now, a redskin never repines, 
but is always thankful for the food he gets, whether it be fat or 
lean, venison or bear, wild-turkey’s breast or wild-goose’s wing. 
To the shame of us white men be it said that we look upon 
blessings without satisfaction, and consider trifling evils matters 
of great account.” 

“ It is so with the 55th, as I can answer, though I cannot 
say as much for their Christianity,” returned the sergeant. 
“ Even the major himself, old Duncan of Lundie, will some- 
times swear an oatmeal-cake is better fare than the Oswego 
bass, and sigh for a swallow of Highland water, when, if so 
minded, he has the whole of Ontario to quench his thirst in.” 

“ Has M’ajor Duncan a wife and children ? ” asked Mabel, 
whose thoughts naturally turned toward her own sex in her new 
situation. 

Not he, girl ; though they do say that he has a betrothed 
at home. The lady, it seems, is willing to wait rather than 
suffer the hardships of service in this wild region — all of which, 
brother Cap, is not according to my notions of a woman’s duties. 
Your sister thought differently, and had it pleased God to spare 
her, would have been sitting at this moment on the very cami> 
stool that her daughter so well becomes.” 

“ I hope, sergeant, you do not think of Mabel for a soldier’s 


112 


THE PATHFINDER. 


wife,” returned Cap, gravely. “ Our family has done its share 
in that way already, and it’s high time the sea was again re- 
membered.” 

“ I do not think of finding a husband for the girl in the 
55th or any other regiment, I can promise you, brother ; though 
I do think it getting to be time that the child were respectably 
married.” 

“ Father ! ” 

“ ’Tis not their gifts, sergeant, to talk of these matters in so 
open a manner,” said the guide, “ for I’ve seen it verified by 
exper’ence that he who would follow the trail of a virgin’s good- 
will must not go shouting out his thoughts behind her. So, if 
you please, we will talk of something else.” 

“ Well, then, brother Cap, I hope that bit of a cold-roasted 
pig is to your mind ; you seem to fancy the food.” 

“ Ay, ay, give me civilized grub, if, I must eat,” returned 
the pertinacious seaman. “ Venison is well enough for your 
inland sailors, but we of the ocean like a little of that which we 
understand.” 

Here Pathfinder laid down his knife and fork, and indulged 
in a hearty laugh, though always in his silent manner ; then he 
asked, with a little curiosity in his manner : — 

“ Don’t you miss the skin. Master Cap ; don’t you miss the 
skin ? ” 

“ It would have been better for its jacket, I think myself, 
Pathfinder ; but I suppose it is a fashion of the woods to serve 
up shoats in this style.” 

“ Well, well, a man may go round the ’arth and not know 
everything ! If you had had the skinning of that pig, Master Cap, 
it would have left you sore hands. The creatur’ is a hedffe- 
hog ! ” 

Blast me, if I thought it wholesome natural pork, either ! ” 
returned Cap. “ But then I believed even a pig might lose 
some of its good qualities up hereaway, in the woods. It seemed 
no more than reason that a fresh-water hog should not be 
altogether so good as a salt-water hog. I suppose, sergeant, by 
this time it is all the same to you ? ” 

“ If the skinning of it, brother, does not fall to mv duty. — 
Pathfinder, I hope you didn’t find Mabel disobedient on^the 
march ? ” 

“ Not she— not she. If Mabel is only half as well satisfied 
with Jasper and the Pathfinder, as the Pathfinder and Jasper are 
satisfied with her, sergeant, we shall be friends for the remainder 
of our days.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


As the guide spoke, he turned his eyes toward the blA 
girl, with a sort of innocent desire to know her opinion A 
then, with an inborn delicacy that proved he was far supe\ 
to the vulgar desire to invade the sanctity of femhiine feeling, 
he looked at his plate, and seemed to regret his own boldness. 

“ Well, well, we must remember that women are not men, 
my friend,” resumed the sergeant, “ and make proper allow- 
ances for nature and education. A recruit is not a veteran. 
Any man knows that it takes longer to make a good soldier 
than it takes to make anything else ; and it ought to require 
unusual time to make a good soldier’s daughter.” 

“ This is new doctrine, sergeant,” said Cap, with some spirit. 
“ We old seamen are apt to think that six soldiers, ay, and 
capital soldiers too, might be made, while one sailor is getting 
his education.” 

“ Ay, brother Cap, I’ve seen something of the opinions 
which seafaring men have of themselves,” returned the brother- 
in-law, with a smile as bland as comported with his saturnine 
features ; “ for I was many years one of the garrison in a sea- 
port. You and I have conversed on the subject before, and 
I’m afraid we shall never agree. But if you wish to know what 
the difference is, between a real soldier, and man in what I 
should call a state of Nature, you have only to look at a battalion 
of the r'th, on parade this afternoon, and then, when you get 
back .c" York, examine one of the militia regiments making its 
greaces': efforts.” 

“ Well, to my eye, sergeant, there is very little difference — • 
not more than you’ll find (between a brig and a scow. To me 
they seem alike ; all scarlet, and feathers, and powder, and pipe 
clay.” 

“ So much, sir, for wbe judgment of a sailor,” returned the 
sergeant, with dignity ; “ but perhaps you are not aware that it 
requires a vear to teach a true soldier how to eat.” 

“ So much the worse for him ! The militia know how to 
eat at starting ; for I have often heard that, on their marches, 
they commonly eat all before them, even if they do nothing 
else.” 

“ They have their gifts, I suppose, like other men,” observed 
Pathfinder, with a view to preserve the peace, which was evi- 
dently in some danger of being broken by the obstinate predilec- 
tion of each of the'disputants in favor of his own calling ; “ and 
when a man has his gift from Providence, it is commonly idle 
to endeavor to bear up ag’in it. ^ Ihe 55^^) sergeant, is a 
judicious rijiment, in the way of eating, as I know from having 


114 


r/llC PATHFINDER, 


been so long in its company, though I dare say militia corps 
could be found that would outdo them in feats of that natur\ 
too.” 

“Uncle,” said Mabel, “if you have breakfasted, I will 
thank you to go out upon the bastion with me again. We have 
neither of us seen the lake, and it w^ould be hardly seemly for 
a young woman to be walking about the fort, the first day of her 
arrival, quite alone.” 

Cap understood the motive of Mabel, and having, at the 
bottom, a hearty friendship for his brother-in-law, lie was wilh 
ing enough to defer the argument until they had been longer 
togetiier, for the idea of abandoning it altogether never crossed 
the mind of one so dogmatical and obstinate. He accordingly 
accompanied his niece, leaving Sergeant Dunham and his friend 
the Pathfinder alone together. As soon as his adversary had 
beaten a retreat, the sergeant, who did not quite so well under- 
stand the manoeuvre of his daughter, turned to his companion, 
and, with a smile that was not without triumph, he remarked : 

“ The army, Pathfinder, has never yet done itself justice ; and 
thou^ h modesty becomes a man whether he is in a red coat or 
a black one, or, for that matter, in his shirt-sleeves, I don’t like 
to let a good opportunity slip of saying a word in its behalf. 
Well, my friend,” laying his own hand on one of the Path- 
finder’s, and giving it a hearty squeeze, “ how do you like the 
girl ? ” 

“You have reason to be proud of her, sergeant ; you have 
reason to be proud at finding yourself the father of so handsome 
and well-mannered a young woman. I have seen many of her 
sex, and some that were great and beautiful, but never before 
did I meet with one in whom I thought Providence had so well 
balanced the different gifts.” 

“ And the good opinion, I can tell you. Pathfinder, is mu- 
tual. She told me last night all about your coolness and spirit, 
and kindness — particularly the last ; for kindness counts for 
more than half with females, my friend, and the first inspection 
seems to give satisfaction on both sides. Brush up the uniform, 
and pay a little more attention to the outside. Pathfinder, and 
you will have the girl, heart and hand.” 

“ Nay, nay, sergeant, I’ve forgotten nothing that you have 
told me, and grudge no reasonable pains to make myself as 
pleasant in the eyes of Mabel as she is getting to be m mine. 
I cleaned and brightened up Killdeer, this morning, as soon as 
the sun rose ; and, in my judgment, the piece never looked 
better than it does at this very moment 1 ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


”5 

“That is according to your hunting notions, Pathfinder; 
but firearms should sparkle and glitter in the sun, and I never 
yet could see any beauty in a clouded barrel.” 

“ Lord Howe thought otherwise, sergeant ; and he was ac- 
counted a good soldier ! ” 

“ Very true — his lordship had all the barrels of his regi- 
ment darkened, and what good came of it ? You can see his 
’scutcheon hanging in the English church at Albany ! No; no, 
my worthy friend, a soldier should be a soldier, and at no 
time ought he to be ashamed or afraid to carry about him the 
signs and symbols of his honorable trade. Had you much dis- 
course with Mabel, Pathfinder, as you came along in the 
canoe ? ” 

“ There was not much opportunity, sergeant, and then I 
found myself so much beneath her in idees, that I was afraid to 
speak of much beyond what belonged to my own gifts.” 

“ Therein you are partly right and partly wrong, my friend. 
Women love trifling discourse, though they like to have most 
of it to themselves. Now, you know, I’m a man that do not 
loosen my tongue at every giddy thought, and yet there were 
days when I could see that Mabel’s mother thought none the 
worse of me because I descended a little from my manhood. It 
is true I was twenty-two )^ears younger then, than I am to-day ; 
and, moreover, instead of being the oldest sergeant in the regi- 
ment, I was the youngest. Dignity is commanding and useful, 
and there is no getting on without it, as respects the men ; but, 
if you would be thoroughly esteemed by a woman, it is neces- 
sary to condescend a little on occasions.” 

“ All’s me ! sergeant ; I sometimes fear it will never do I ” 

“ Why do you think so discouragingly of a matter on which 
I thought both our minds were made up ? ” 

“ We did agree that if Mabel should prove what you told 
me she was, if the girl could fancy a rude hunter and guide, 
that I would quit some of my wandering ways, and try to hu- 
manize my mind down to a wife and children. But, since I have 
seen the girl, I will own that many misgivin’s have come ovei 
me ! ” 

“ How’s this ! ” interrupted the sergeant, sternly. “ Did 1 
not understand you to say that you were pleased. And is 
Mabel a young woman to disappoint expectation .?” 

“ Ah ! sergeant, it is not Mabel that I distrust, but myself. 
I am a poor, ignorant woodsman, after all, and perhaps I’m not, 
in truth, as good as even you and I may think me.” 

“If you doubt your own judgment of yourself, Pathfinder, I 


THE PATHFINDER, 


Ii5 

beg you will not doubt mine. Am I not accustomed to judge 
men’s characters ? Is it not my especial duty, and am I often 
deceived ? Ask Major Duncan, sir, if you desire any assur- 
ances in this particular.” 

“ But, sergeant, we have long been fri’nds ; have fou’t side 
by side a dozen times, and have done each other many sarvices. 
When this is the case, men are apt to think overkindly of each 
other, and I fear me that the daughter may not be so likely to 
view a plain, ignorant hunter as favorably as the father does.” 

“Tut, tut. Pathfinder; you don’t know yourself, man, and 
may put all faith in my judgment. In the first place, you have 
experience, and, as all girls must want that, no prudent young 
woman would overlook such a qualification. Then you are not 
one of the coxcombs that strut about when they first join a regi- 
ment, but a man who has seen service, and who carries the 
mark of it on his person and countenance. I dare say you have 
been under fire some thirty or forty times, counting all the 
skirmishes and ambushes that you’ve seen.” 

“ All of that, sergeant, all of that ; but what will it avail in 
gaining the good-will of a tender-hearted female ” 

“ It will gain the day. Experience in the field is as good in 
love as in war. But you are as honest-hearted and as loyal a 
subject as the king can boast of — God bless him 1 ” 

“ That may be too — that may be too : but I’m afeard I’m 
too rude, and too old, and too wild-like to suit the fancy of 
such a young and delicate girl as Mabel, who has been unused 
to our wilderness-ways, and may think the settlements better 
suited to her gifts and inclinations.” 

“ These are new misgivings for you, my friend, and I wonder 
they were never paraded before.” 

“ Because I never knew my own worthlessness, perhaps, 
until I saw Mabel. I have travelled with some as fair, and have 
guided them through the forest, and seen them in their perils 
and in their gladness ; but they were always too much above 
me to make me think of them as more than so many feeble ones 
I was bound to protect and defend. The case is now different. 
Mabel and I are so nearly alike that I feel weighed down with 
a load that is hard to bear at finding us so unlike. I do wish, 
sergeant, that I was ten years younger, more comely to look at, 
and better suited to please a handsome young w^oman’s fancy ! ” 
“ Cheer up, my brave friend, and trust to a father s knowl- 
edge of womankind. Mabel half loves you already, and a 
fortnight’s intercourse and kindness, down among the islands 


THE PA THFINDER. 


I17 

yonder, will close ranks with the other half. The girl as much 
as told me this herself last night.” 

“ Can this be so, sergeant ” said the guide, whose meek 
and modest nature shrank from viewing himself in colors so 
favorable. “ Can this be truly so ? I am but a poor hunter, 
and Mabel, I see, is fit to be an officer’s lady. Do you think 
the gal will consent to quit all her beloved settlement usages, 
and her visitin’s, and her church-goin’s to dwell with a plain 
guide and hunter, up hereaway, in the woods Will she not, 
in the end, crave her old ways and a better man ? ” 

“ A better man. Pathfinder, would be hard to find,” returned 
the father. “ As for town usages, they are soon forgotten in 
the freedom of the forest, and Mabel has just spirit enough to 
dwell on a frontier. I’ve not planned this marriage, my friend, 
without thinking it over, as a general does his campaign. At 
first, I thought of bringing you into the regiment, that you 
might succeed me when I retired, which must be sooner or later ; 
but on reflection. Pathfinder, I think you are scarcely fitted for 
the office. Still, if not a soldier in all the meanings of the 
word, you are a soldier in its best meaning, and I know that 
you have the good-will of every officer in the corps. As long as I 
live, Mabel can dwell with me, and you will always have a home 
when you return from your scoutings and marches.” 

“ This is very pleasant to think of, sergeant, if the girl can 
only come into our wishes with good-will. But, ah’s me ! it 
does not seem that one like myself can ever be agreeable in her 
handsome eyes ! If I were younger, and comely, now, as 
Jasper Western is, for instance, there might be a chance — yes, 
then, indeed, there might be some chance.” 

“ That, for Jasper Eau-douce and every younker of them in 
or about the fort ! ” returned the sergeant, snapping his fingers. 

If not actually a younger, you are a younger-looking, ay, and 
a better-looking man than the Scud’s master ” 

“ Anan ! ” said Pathfinder, looking up at his companion 
with an expression of doubt, as if he did not understand his 
meaning. 

“ I say, if not actually younger in days and years, you look 
more hardy and like whii>cord, than Jasper, or any of them ; and 
there will be more of you, thirty years hence, than of all of them 
put together. A good conscience will keep one like you a mere 
boy all his life.” 

“ Jasper has as dear a conscience as any youth I know, ser- 
geant ! — and is as likely to wear, on that account, as any young 
man in the colony.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


118 

“ Then you are my friend,” squeezing the other’s hand— • 
“ my tried, sworn, and constant friend.” 

“ Yes, we have been friends, sergeant, near twenty years— 
before Mabel was born.” 

“ True enough — before Mabel was born we were well-tried 
friends, and the hussy would never dream of refusing to marry 
a man who was her father’s friend before she was born.” 

We don’t know, sergeant, we don’t know. Like loves 
like. The young prefar the young for companions, and the 
old the old.” 

“ Not for wives. Pathfinder ! I never knew an old man, now, 
who had an objection to a young wife. Then you are respected 
and esteemed by every officer in the fort, as I have said already, 
and it will please her fancy to like a man that every one else 
likes.” 

“ I hope I have no inemies but the Mingoes,” returned the 
guide, stroking down his hair meekly, and speaking thought- 
fully. “ I’ve tried to do right, and that ought to make friends, 
though it sometimes fails.” 

“ And you may be said to keep the best company, for even 
old Duncan of Lundie is glad to see you, and you pass hours in 
his society. Of all the guides, he confides most in you.” 

“ Ay, even greater than he is have marched by my side for 
days, and have conversed with me as if I were their brother; 
but, sergeant, I have never been puffed up by their company, for 
I know that the woods often bring men to a level who would not 
be so in the settlements.” 

“ And you are known to be the greatest rifle-shot that ever 
pulled a trigger in all this region.” 

“ If Mabel could fancy a man for that, I might have no 
great reason to despair ; and yet, sergeant, I sometimes think 
that it is all as much owing to Killdeer as to any skill of my own. 
It is sartainly a wonderful piece, and might do as much in the 
hands of another.” 

“ That is your humble opinion of yourself. Pathfinder ; but 
we have seen too many fall with the same weapon, and you 
succeed too often with the rifles of other men to agree with you. 
We will get up a shooting-match in a day or two, when you can 
show your skill, and then Mabel will form some judgment 
concerning your true character.” 

“ Will that be fair, sergeant. Everybody knows that Killdeer 
seldom misses, and ought we to make a trial of this sort when 
we all know what must be the result ? ” 

“ Tut, tut, man ! I foresee I must do half this courting 


THE PATHFINDER. 


119 

! for you. For one who is always inside of the smoke in a skir- 
i mish, you are the faintest-hearted suitor I ever met with. 
- Remember, Mabel comes of a bold stock ; and the girl will be 
i as likely to admire a man as her mother was before her.” 

; Here the sergeant arose, and proceeded to attend to his 
C never-ceasing duties without apology, the terms on which the 
> guide stood with all in the garrison rendering this freedom quite 
a matter of course. 

The reader will have gathered from the conversation just 
' related one of the plans that Sergeant Dunham had in view in 
causing his daughter to be brought to the frontier. Although 
; neccessarily much weaned from the caresses and blandishments 
: that had rendered his child so dear to him during the first year 
S or two of his widowhood, he had still a strong, but somewhat 
c latent, love for her. Accustomed to command and to obey, 
t without being questioned himself or questioning others concern- 
ing the reasonableness of the mandates, he was, perhaps, too 
much disposed to believe that his daughter would marry the 
man he might select, while he was far from being disposed to 
: do violence to her wishes. The fact was, few knew the Path- 
finder intimately without secretly coming to believe him to be 
one of extraordinary qualities. Ever the same, simple-minded, 

: faithful, utterly without fear, and yet prudent, foremost in all 
warrantable enterprises, or what the opinion of the day con- 
sidered as such, and never engaged in anything to call a blush 
to his cheek or censure on his acts ; it was not possible to live 
much with this being, who, in his peculiar way, was a sort of 
type of what Adam might have been supposed to be before the 
1 fall, though certainly not without sin, and not feel a respect 
I and admiration for him that had no reference to his position in 
i life. It was remarked that no officer passed him without sa- 
luting him as if he had been his equal ; no common man, with- 
i out addressing him with the confidence and freedom of a com- 
I rade. The most surprising peculiarity about the man himself 
w^as the entire indifference with which he regarded all distinc- 
tions that did not depend on personal merit. He was respect- 
ful to his superiors from habit, but had often been known to 
correct their mistakes and to reprove their vices, with a fear- 
lessness that proved how essentially he regarded the more ma- 
terial points, and with a natural discrimination that appeared 
to set education at defiance. In short, a disbeliever in the 
ibility of man to distinguish between good and evil without the 
aid of instruction would have been staggered by the character 
of this extraordinary inhabitant of the frontier. His feelings 


120 


THE FA THFINDER. 


appeared to possess . the freshness and nature of the forest in 
which he passed so much of his time, and no casuist could have 
made clearer decisions in matters relating to right and wrong ; 
yet he was not without his prejudices, which, though few, and 
colored by the character and usages of the individual, were 
deep-rooted, and had almost got to form a part of his nature. 
But the most striking feature about the moral organization of 
Pathfinder was his beautiful and unerring sense of justice. This 
noble trait (and without it no man can be truly great ; with it, 
no man other than respectable) probably had its unseen influ 
ence on all who associated with him ; for the common and un- 
principled brawler of the camp had been known to return from 
an expedition made in his company, rebuked by his sentiments, 
softened by his language, and improved by his example. As 
might have been expected, with so elevated a quality, his fidel- 
ity was like the immovable rock. Treachery in him was classed 
among the things that are impossible, and as he seldom retired 
before his enemies, so was he never known, under any circum- 
stances that admitted of an alternative, to abandon a friend. 
The affinities of such a character were, as a matter of course, 
those of like for like. His associates and intimates, though 
more or less determined by chance, were generally of the high- 
est order as to moral propensities ; for l:ie appeared to possess 
a species of instinctive discrimination that led him insensibly 
to himself, most probably, to cling closest to those whose char- 
acters would best reward his friendship. In short, it was said 
of the Pathfinder, by one accustomed to study his fellows, that 
he was a fair example of what a just-minded and pure man 
might be, while untempted by unruly or ambitious desires, and 
left to follow the bias of his feelings, amid the solitary grandeur 
and ennobling influen'ces of a sublime nature ; neither led aside 
by the inducements which influence all to do evil amid the in- 
centives of civilization, nor forgetful of the Almighty Being 
whose spirit pervades the wilderness as well as the towns. 

Such was the man whom Sergeant Dunham had selected as 
the husband of Mabel. In making this choice he had not been 
as much governed by a clear and judicious view of the merits of 
the individual, perhaps, as by his own likings ; still, no one 
knew the Pathfinder as intimately as himself, without always 
conceding to the honest guide a high place in his esteem, on 
account of these very virtues. That his daughter could find any 
serious objection to the match, the old soldier did not appr^ 
hend ; while, on the other hand, he saw many advantages to 
himself, in dim perspective, that were connected with the de- 


THE PATHFINDER. 


I2I 


cTine of his days, and an evening of life passing among descend- 
ants who were equally dear to him through both parents. He 
Urst made the proposition to his friend, who had listened to it 
kindly, but who the sergeant was now pleased to find already 
betrayed a willingness to come into his own views, that was 
proportioned to the doubts and misgivings proceeding from his 
humble distrust of himself. 


CHAPTER X. 


** Think not I love him, though I ask for him; 

’Tis but a peevisli boy; — yet he talks well — 

But what care I for words ? ” 

A WEEK passed in the usual routine of a gariison. Mabel 
was becoming used to a situation that, at first, she had found 
not only novel but a little irksome ; and the officers and men, 
in their turn, gradually familiarized to the presence of a young 
and blooming girl, whose attire and carriage had that air of 
modest gentility about them which she had obtained in the 
family of her patroness, annoyed her less by their ill-concealed 
admiration, while they gratified her by the respect which, she 
was fain to think, they paid her on account of her father ; but 
which, in truth, was more to be attributed to her own modest 
but spirited deportment than to any deference for the worthy 
sergeant. 

Acquaintances made in a forest, or in any circumstances of 
unusual excitement, soon attain their limits. Mabel found one 
week’s residence at Oswego sufficient to determine her as to 
those with whom she might be intimate, and those whom she 
ought to avoid. The sort of neutral position occupied by her 
father, who was not an officer while he was so much more than 
a common soldier, by keeping her aloof from the two great 
classes of military life, lessened the number of those whom she 
was compelled to know, and made the duty of decision compar* 
atively easy. Still she soon discovered that there were a few, 
even among those that could aspire to a seat at the command- 
ant’s table, who were disposed to overlook the halbert, for the 
novelty of a well-turned figure, and of a pretty, winning ace ; 
and by the end of the first two or three days she had admirers 
even among the gentlemen. The quartermaster, in particular; 


122 


THE PATHFINDER, 


a middle-aged soldier, who had more than once tried the bles» 
ings of matrimony, but was now a widower, was evidently dis« 
posed to increase his intimacy with the sergeant, though theii 
duties often brought them together ; and the youngsters among 
his messmates did not fail to note that this man of method, who 
was a Scotsman of the name of Muir, was much more frequent 
in his visits to the quarters of his subordinate than had for- 
merly been his wont. A laugh or a joke in honor of the “ ser- 
geant’s daughter,” however, limited their strictures, though 
“ Mabel Dunham ” was soon a toast that even the ensign or 
the lieutenant did not disdain to give. 

At the end of the week, Duncan of Lundie sent for Ser- 
geant Dunham after evening roll-call, on business of a nature 
that, it was understood, required a personal conference. The 
old veteran dwelt in a movable hut, which, being placed on 
trucks, he could order to be wheeled about at pleasure, some- 
times living in one part of the area within the fort, and some- 
times in another.* On the present occasion, he had made a 
halt near the centre, and there he was found by his subordi- 
nate, who was admitted to his presence without any delay, or 
dancing attendance in an ante-chamber. In point of fact, 
there was very little difference in the quality of the accommo- 
dations given to the officers and those allowed to the men, the 
former being merely granted the most room, and Mabel and 
her father were lodged nearly, if not quite, as well as the com- 
mandant of the place himself. 

“Walk in, sergeant, walk in, my good friend,” said old 
Lundie, heartily, as his inferior stood in a respectful attitude 
at the door of a sort of library and bedroom into which he had 
been ushered — “ walk in, and take a seat on that stool. I 
have sent for you, man, to discuss anything but rosters and 
pay-rolls this evening. It is now many years since we have 
been comrades, and ‘ auld lang syne ’ should count for some- 
thing, even between a major and hrs orderly, a Scot and a 
Yankee. Sit ye down, man, and just put yourself at your ease. 
It has been a fine day, sergeant ? ” 

“ It has indeed, Major Duncan,” returned the other, who, 
though he complied so far as to take the seat, was much too 
practised not to understand the degree of respect it was neces- 
sary to maintain in his manner — “ a very fine day, sir, it has 
been, and we may look for more of them, at this season.” 

“ I hope so, with all my heart. The crops look well, as it 

• This circumstance is a real incident, taken from the “ American Lady” of Mrs. Gran^ 
uf Laggan. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


123 

is, man, and you’ll be finding that the 55th make almost as good 
farmers as soldiers. I never saw better potatoes in Scotland 
than we are likely to have in that new patch of ours.” 

“They promise a good yield, Major Duncan, and in that 
light a more comfortable winter than the last.” 

“ Life is progressive, sergeant, in its comforts, as well as in 
its need of them. We grow old, and I begin to think it time 
to retire and settle in life. I feel that my working days are 
nearly over.” 

“ The king, God bless him, sir, has much good service in 
your honor yet.” 

“ It may be so, Sergeant Dunham, especially if he should 
happen to have a spare lieutenant-colonelcy left.” 

“The 55th will be honored the day that commission u 
given to Duncan of Lundie, sir.” 

“ And Duncan of Lundie will be honored the day he re- 
ceives it. But, sergeant, if you have never had a lieutenant- 
colonelcy, you have had a good wife, and that is the next 
thing to rank, in making a man happy.” 

“ I have been married. Major Duncan ; but it is now a long 
time since I have had no drawback on the love I bear his 
majesty and my duty.” 

“ What, man, not even the love you bear that active, little 
round-limbed, rosy-cheeked daughter, that I have seen in the 
fort, these last few days ? Out upon you, sergeant ! old fellow 
as I am, I could almost love that little lassie myself, and send 
the lieutenant-colonelcy to the devil.” 

“ We all know where Major Duncan’s heart is, and that is 
in Scotland, where a beautiful lady is ready and willing to 
make him happy as soon as his own sense of duty shall per- 
mit.” 

“ Ay, hope is ever a far-off thing, sergeant,” returned the 
superior, a shade of melancholy passing over his hard Scottish 
features as he spoke ; “ and bonny Scotland is a far-off coun- 
try. Well, if we have no heather and oatmeal in this region, 
we have venison for the killing it : and salmon as plenty as at 
Berwick-upon-Tweed. Is it true, sergeant, that the men com- 
plain of having been over-venisoned and over-pigeoned of 
late ? ” 

“ Not for some weeks. Major Duncan, for neither aeer nor 
birds are so plenty at this season as they have been. They 
began to throw their remarks about concerning the salmon, but 
I trust we shall get through the summer without any seriaus 
disturbance on the score of food. The Scotch in the battalion 


THE PATHFINDER, 


124 

do, indeed, talk more than is prudent of their want of oatmeal, 
grumbling occasionally of our wheaten bread.” 

“ Ah ! that is human nature, sergeant ; pure unadulterated 
Scottish human nature. A cake, man, to say the truth, is an 
agreeable morsel, and I often see the time when I pine for 3 
bite myself.” 

If the feeling gets troublesome. Major Duncan — in the men 
I mean, sir, for I would not think of saying so disrespectful a 
a thing to your honor — but if the men ever pine seriously for 
their natural food, I would humbly recommend that some oat- 
meal be imported, or prepared in this country for them, and I 
think we shall hear no more of it. A very little would answer 
for a cure, sir.” 

“ You are a wag, sergeant ; but hang me if I am sure 3^ou 
are not right. There may be sweeter things in this world, 
after all, than oatmeal. You have a sweet daughter, Duncan, 
for one.” 

“ The girl is like her mother. Major Duncan, and will pass 
inspection,” said the sergeant, proudly. “ Neither was brought 
up on anything better than good American flour. The girl will 
pass inspection, sir.” 

“ That would she, I’ll answer for it. Well, I may as well 
come to the point at once, man, and bring up my reserve into 
the front of the battle. Here is Davy Muir, the quartermaster, 
is disposed to make your daughter his wife, and he has just 
got me to open the matter to you, being fearful of compromit- 
ting his own dignity — and I may as well add, that half the 
youngsters in the fort toast her, and talk of her from morning 
till night.” 

“ She is much honored, sir,” returned the father, stiffly, 
“ but I trust the gentlemen will find something more worthy of 
them to talk about, ere long. I hope to see her the wife of an 
honest man, before many weeks, sir.” 

“ Yes, Davy is an honest man, and that is more than can 
be said of all in the quartermaster’s department, I’m thinking, 
sergeant ! ” returned Lundie, with a slight smile. “ Well, then, 
may I tell the Cupid-stricken youth that the matter is as good 
as settled } ” 

“ I thank your honor, but Mabel is betrothed to another.” 

“ The devil she is ! That will produce a stir in the fort 
though I’m not sorry to hear it, either, for to be frank with you, 
sergeant, I’m no great admirer of unequal matches.” 

“ I think with your honor, and have no desire to see my 
daughter an officer’s lady. If she can get as high as hei 


THE PATHFINDER. 


125 

mother was before her, it ought to satisfy any reasonable 
woman.” 

“ And may I ask, sergeant, who is the lucky man that you 
intend to call son-in-law ? ” 

“ The Pathfinder, your honor.” 

“ Pathfinder ? ” 

“ The same, Major Duncan ; and in naming him to you I 
give you his whole history. No one is better known on this 
frontier than my honest, brave, true-hearted friend.” 

“ All that is true enough ; but is he, after all, the sort of 
person to make a girl of twenty happy ? ” 

“ Why not, your honor ? — the man is at the head of his 
calling. There is no other guide, or scout, connected with the 
army that has half the reputation of Pathfinder, or who deserves 
to have it half as well.” 

“ Very true, sergeant ; but is the reputation of a scout ex'* 
actly the sort of renown to captivate a girl’s fancy ? ” 

“ Talking of girls’ fancies, sir, is, in my humble opinion, 
much like talking of a recruit’s judgment. If we were to take 
the movements of the awkward squad, sir, as a guide, we should 
never form a decent line in battalion. Major Duncan.” 

“ But your daughter has nothing awkward about her ; for 
a genteeler girl of her class could not be found in old Albin 
itself. Is she of your way of thinking in this matter ? — though 
T suppose she must be, as you say she is betrothed.” 

“ We have not yet conversed on the subject, your honor, 
but I consider her mind as good as made up, from several little 
circumstances that might be named.” 

“ And what are these circumstances, sergeant ? ” asked the 
major, who began to take more interest than he had at first 
felt in the subject. “ I confess a little curiosity to learn some- 
thing about a woman’s mind, being, as you know, a bachelor 
myself.” 

“ Why, your honor, when I speak of the Pathfinder to the 
girl, she always looks me full in the face ; chimes in with every- 
thing I say in his favor, and has a frank, open way with her, 
which says as much as if she half considered him, already, as 
a husband.” 

“ Hum ! — and these signs you think, Dunham, are faithful 
tokens of your daughter’s feelings ? ” 

“ I do, your honor, for they strike me as natural. When I 
find a man, sir, who looks me full in the face, while he praises 
an officer — for, begging your honor’s pardon, the men will some- 
times pass their strictures on their betters — and when I find a 


126 


THE PA THFINDER. 


man looking me in the eyes as he praises his captain, I always 
set it down that the fellow is honest, and means what he 
says.” 

“ Is there not some material difference in the age of the in* 
tended bridegroom and that of his pretty bride, sergeant ? ” 

“ You are quite right, sir ; Pathfinder is well advanced to* 
ward forty, and Mabel has every prospect of happiness that a 
young woman can derive from the certainty of possessing an 
experienced husband. I was quite forty myself, your honor, 
when I married her mother.” 

“ But will your daughter be as likely to admire a green 
hunting-shirt, such as that our worthy guide wears, with a foxskin 
cap, as the smart uniform of the 55th ? ” 

“ Perhaps not, sir ; and, therefore, she wall have the merit 
of self-denial, which always makes a young woman wiser and 
better.” 

“ And are you not afraid that she may be left a widow while 
still a young woman ? What between wild beasts and wilder 
savages. Pathfinder may be said to carry his life in his hand.” 

“ ‘ Every bullet has its billet,’ Lundie,” for so the major 
was fond of being called, in his moments of condecension, and 
when not engaged in military affairSj “ and no man in the 55th 
can call himself beyond or above the chances of sudden death. 
In that particular Mabel would gain nothing by a change. Be- 
sides, sir, if I may speak freely on such a subject, I much 
doubt if ever Pathfinder dies in battle, or by any of the sudden 
chances of the wilderness.” 

“ And why so, sergeant ? ” asked the major, looking at his 
inferior with the sort of reverence which a Scot of his day was 
more apt than at present to entertain for mysterious agencies. 
“ He is a soldier, so far as danger is concerned, and one that 
is much more than usually exposed ; and, being free of his 
person, why should he expect to escape, wEen others do not ? ” 

“ I do not believe, your honor, that the Pathfinder considers 
his own chances better than any one’s else, but the man will 
never die by a bullet. I have seen him so often handling his 
rifle with as much composure as if it were a shepherd’s crook, 
in the midst of the heaviest showers of bullets, and under so 
many extraordinary circumstances, that I do not think Provi- 
dence means he should ever fall in that manner. And yet, if 
there be a man in his majesty’s dominions who really deserves 
such a death, it is Pathfinder ! ” 

“ We never know, sergeant,” returned Lundie, with a couii- 
tenance that was gra /e with thought, “and the less we say about 


THE FA TH FINDER, 


127 

it perhaps the better. But will your daughter— Mabel, I think 
you call her — will Mabel be as willing to accept one, who, after 
all, is a mere hanger-on of the army, as to take one from the 
service itself ? There is no hope of promotion for the guide, 
sergeant ! ” 

‘‘ He is at the head of his corps, already, your honor. In 
short, Mabel has made up her mind on this subject, and, as 
your honor has had the condescension to speak to me about 
Mr. Muir, I trust you will be kind enough to say that the girl 
is as good as billeted for life.” 

“ Well, well, this is your own matter, and now, — Sergeant 
Dunham ! ” 

“ Your honor,” said the other, rising, and giving the cus- 
tomary salute. 

“ You have been told it is my intention to send you down 
among the Thousand Islands, for the next month. All the 
old subalterns have had their tours of duty in that quarter — all 
that I like to trust, at least — and it has, at length, come to your 
turn. Lieutenant Muir, it is true, claims his right ; but, being 
quartermaster, I do not like to break up well established ar- 
rangements. Are the men drafted ? ” 

“ Everything is ready, your honor. The draft is made, and 
I understood that the canoe wL'ch got in last night brought a 
message to say that the party already below is looking out for 
the relief.” 

“It did, and you must sail the day after to-morrow, if not 
to-morrow night. It will be wise, perhaps, to sail in the dark.” 

“So Jasper thinks. Major Duncan; and I know no one 
more to be depended on, in such an affair, than young Jasper 
Western.” 

“ Young Jasper Eau-douce ! ” said Lundie, a slight smile 
gathering around his usually stern mouth. “ Will that lad be 
of your party, sergeant ? ” 

“ Your honor will remember that the Scud never quits port 
without him.” 

“ True, but all general rules have their exceptions. Have 
I not seen a seafaring person about the fort within the last few 
days .? ” 

“No doubt, your honor ; it is Master Cap, a brother-in-lavr 
of mine, who brought my daughter from below.” 

“ Why not put him in the Scud for this cruise, sergeant, and 
leave Jasper behind.? Your brother-in-law would like the 
variety of a fresh-water cruise, and you would enjoy more of his 
company.” 


128 


THE PA THFINDEK. 


“ I intendearo ask your honor’s permission to take him alongj 
but he must go as a volunteer. Jasper is too brave a lad to be 
turned out of his command without a reason, Major Duncan, 
and I’m afraid brother Cap despises fresh water too much to do 
duty on it.” 

“ Quite right, sergeant, and I leave all this to your own 
discretion. Eau-douce must retain his command, on second 
thoughts. You intend that Pathfinder shall also be of the 
party ? ” 

“ If your honor approves of it. There will be service for 
both the guides, the Indian as well as the white man.” 

“ I think you are right. Well, sergeant, I wish you good 
luck in the enterprise ; and remember, the post is to be 
destroyed and abandoned when your command is withdrawn. 
It will have done its work by that time, or we shall have failed 
entirely, and it is too ticklish a position to be maintained un- 
necessarily. You can retire.” 

Sergeant Dunham gave the customary salute, turned on his 
heel as if they had been pivots, and had got the door nearly 
drawn-to after him, when he was suddenly recalled. 

“ I had forgotten, sergeant, the younger officers have begged 
for a shooting-match, and to-morrow has been named for the 
day. All competitors will be admitted, and the prizes will be 
a silver-mounted powder-horn, a leathern flask-ditto,” reading 
from a piece of paper, “ as I see by the professional jargon of 
this bill, and a silk calash for a lady. The latter is to enable 
the victor to show his gallantry, by making an offering of it to 
her he best loves.” 

“ All very agreeable, your honor, at least to him that suc- 
ceeds. Is the Pathfinder to be permitted to enter ? ” 

“ I do not well see how he can be excluded, if he chose 
to come forward. Latterly, I have observed that he takes no 
share in these sports, probably from a conviction of his own 
unequalled skill.” 

“ That’s it, Major Duncan ; the honest fellow knows there 
zs not a man on the frontier who can equal him, and he does 
not wish to spoil the pleasure of others. I think we may tmst 
to his delicacy in anything, sir. Perhaps it may be as well to 
let him have his own way.” 

“ In this instant we must, sergeant. Whether he will be as 
successful in all others, remains to be seen. I wish you good* 
evening, Dunham.” 

The sergeant now withdrew, leaving Duncan of Lundie to 
his own thoughts. That they were not altogether disagreeable, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


129 

was to be inferred from the smiles which occasionally covered 
a countenance that was hard and martial in its usual expression, 
though there were moments in which ail its severe sobriety pre- 
vailed. Half an hour might have passed, when a tap at the 
door was answered by a direction to enter. A middle-aged 
man, in the dress of an officer, but whose uniform wanted the 
usual smartness of the profession, made his appearance, and 
was saluted as “ Mr. Muir.” 

^ ‘‘ I have come, sir, at your bidding, to know my fortune,” 
said the quartermaster, in a strong Scotch accent, as soon as 
he had taken the seat which was preferred to him. “ To say 
the truth to you. Major Duncan, this girl is making as much 
havoc in the garrison, as the French did before Ty ; I never 
witnessed so general a rout, in so short a time.” 

“ Surely, Davy, you don’t mean to persuade me that your 
young and unsophisticated heart is in such a flame, after one 
week’s ignition. Why, man, this is worse than the affair in 
Scotland, where it was said the heart within was so intense that 
it just burnt a hole through your own precious body, and left a 
place for all the lassies to peer in at, to see what the combus- 
tible material was worth.” 

“ Ye’ll have your own W'ay, Major Duncan, and your fathei 
and mother would have theirs before ye, even if the enemy 
were in the camp. I see nothing so extraordinar’ in young 
people’s following the bent of their inclinations and wishes.” 

“ But you’ve followed yours so often, Davy, that I should 
think, by this time, it had lost the edge of novelty. Including 
the informal affair in Scotland, when you were a lad, you’ve 
been married four times already.” 

“ Only three, major, as I hope to get another wife. I’ve 
not yet had my number : no — no — only three.” 

“ I’m thinking, Davy, you didn’t include the first affair I 
mentioned ; that in which there was no parson.” 

And why should I, major ? The courts decided that it was 
no marriage, and what more could a man want ? The woman 
took advantage of a slight amorous propensity, that may be a 
weakness in my disposition, perhaps, and inveigled me into a 
contract that was found to be illegal.” 

“ If I remember right, Muir, there were thought to be two 
sides to that question, in the time of it I ” ' 

“ It would be but an indifferent question, my dear major, 
that hadn’t two sides to it ; and I’ve known many that had 
three But the poor woman’s dead, and there was no issue, so 
nothing came of it, after all Then I was particularly unfortu' 


130 


THE PA THFINDER. 


nate with my second wife — I say second, major, out of deference 
to you, and on the merd supposition that the first was a mar- 
riage at all — but, first or second, I was particularly unfortu- 
nate with Jeannie Graham, who died in the first lustrum, 
leaving neither chick nor chiel behind her. I do think if 
Jeannie had survived, I never should have turned my thoughts 
toward another wife.” 

“ But as she did not, you married twice after her death—* 
and are desirous of doing so a third time.” 

“The truth can never justly be gainsaid. Major Duncan, 
and I am always ready to avow it. I’m thinking, Lundie, you 
are melancholar’, this fine evening?” 

“ No, Muir, net melancholy absolutely, but a little thought- 
ful, I confess. I was looking back to my boyish days, when I, 
the laird’s son, and you the parson’s, roamed about our native 
hills, happy and careless boys, taking little heed to the future ; 
and then have followed some thoughts that may be a little pain- 
ful, concerning that future, as it has turned out to be.” 

“ Surely, Lundie, ye do not complain of your portion of it 
You’ve risen to be a major, and will soon be a lieutenant- 
colonel, if letters tell the truth ; while I am just one step 
higher than when your honored father gave me my first com- 
mission, and a poor deevil of a quartermaster.” 

“ And the four wives ? ” 

“ Three, Lundie ; three only that were legal, even under 
our own liberal and sanctified laws.” 

“Well, then, let it be three. Ye know, Davy,” said Major 
Duncan, insensibly dropping into the pronunciation and dialect 
of his youth, as is much the practice with educated Scotchmen 
as they warm with a subject that comes near the heart — “ ye 
know, Davy, that my own choice has long been made, and in 
how anxious and hope-wearied a manner I’ve waited for that 
happy hour when I can call the woman I’ve so long loved a 
wife ; and here have you without fortune, name, birth, or merit 
— I mean particular merit ” 

“ Na, na — dinna say that, Lundie — the Muirs are of gude 
bluid.” 

“ Well, then, without aught but bluid ye’ve wived four 
times ” 

“ I tell ye but thrice, Lundie. Ye’ll weaken auld friendship 
if ye call it four.” 

“ Put it at ye’r own number, Davy, and it’s far more than 
ye’r share. Our lives have been very different on the score of 
matrimony, at least ; you must allow that, my old friend.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


13* 

“And which do you think has been the gainer, major, 
speaking as frankly thegither as we did when lads ? 

“Nay, I’ve nothing to conceal. My days have passed in 
hope deferred, while yours have passed ;n ” 

“ Not in hope realized, I give you mine honor. Major Dun« 
can,” interrupted the quartermaster. “ Each new experiment 
I have thought might prove an advantage, but disappointment 
seerns the lot of man ! — Ah ! this is a vain world of ours, Lun- 
die, it must be owned j and in nothing vainer than in matri- 
mony.” 

“ And yet you are ready to put your neck into the noose 
for the fifth time ? ” 

“ I desire to say it will be for the fourth, Major Duncan,” 
said the quartermaster positively ; then instantly changing the 
expression of his face to one 6f boyish rapture, he added : 
“ But this Mabel Dunham is a rara avis / Our Scotch lassies 
are fair and pleasant, but it must be owned these colonials are 
of surpassing comeliness.” 

“You will do well to recollect your commission and blood, 
Davy ; I believe all four of your wives ” 

“ I wish, my dear Lundie, ye’d be more accurate in your 
arithmetic — three times one make three.” 

“All three, then, were what might be termed gentlewomen.” 

“ That’s just it, major. Three were gentlewomen, as you 
say, and the connections were suitable.” 

“ And the fourth being the daughter of my father’s garden 
er, the connection was unsuitable. But have you no fear that 
marrying the child of a non-commissioned officer who is in the 
same corps with yourself, will have the effect to lessen your 
consequence in the regiment ? ” 

“ That’s just been my weakness through life. Major Dun- 
can-, for I’ve always married without regard to consequences. 
Every man has his besetting sin, and matrimony, I fear, is 
mine. And now that we have discussed what may be called 
the principles of the connection, I will just ask if you did me 
the favor to speak to the sergeant on the trifling affair ? ” 

“ I did, David, and am sorry to say for your hopes that 1 
see no great chance of your succeeding.” 

“Not succeeding! An officer, and a quartermaster into 
the bargain, and not succeed with a sergeant’s daughter ! ” 

“ It’s just that, Davy.” 

“ And why not, Lundie 1 — will you have the goodness to 
answer just that ? ” 

“ The girl is betrothed. Hand plighted, word passed, love 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


132 

pledged — no, hang me if I believe that either ; but she is be 
trothed.” 

“ Well, that’s an obstacle, it must be avowed, major ; though 
it counts for little, if the heart is free.” 

“ Quite true ; and I think it probable the is free in 

this case, for the intended husband appears to be the choice of 
the father rather than of the daughter,’ 

“ And who may it be, ma°o:: ? ' ask the quartermaster 
who viewed the whole matter with the philosophy coolness 
that are acquired by use. “ I not recollect any plausible 
suitor that is likely to stand in my way.” 

“ No, you are the only plausible suitor on the frontier, Davy. 
The happy man is Pathfinder.” 

“ Pathfinder, Major Duncan ? ” 

“No more, nor any less, David Muir. Pathfinder is the 
man ; but it may relieve your jealousy a little to know that, in 
my judgment at least, it is a match of the father’s, rather than 
of the daughter’s seeking.” 

“ I thought as much ! ” exclaimed the quartermaster, draw- 
ing a long breath, like one who felt relieved ; “ it’s quite im- 
possible, that with my experience in human nature ” 

“Particularly hu-woman’s nature, David !” 

“Ye will have ye’re joke, Lundie, let who will suffer ! But 
I did not think it possible I could be deceived as to the young 
woman’s inclinations, which I think I may boldly pronounce 
to be altogether above the condition of Pathfinder. As for the 
individual himself — why, time will show.” 

“ Now, tell me frankly, Davy Muir,” said Lundie, stopping 
short in his walk, and looking the other earnestly in the face, 
with a comical expression of surprise, that rendered the vet- 
eran’s countenance ridiculously rnest — do you really sup- 

pose a girl like the daughter of Sergeant Dunham can take a 
serious fancy to a man of your years, and appearance, 
perience, I might add ? 

“ Hout awa’, Lundie ! ye dinna know the sax, and that's 
the reason ye’r unmarried in ye r forty-fifth year. It’s a fearfu’ 
time ye’ve been a bachelor, major ! ” 

“ And what may be your age. Lieutenant Muir, if I may pre- 
sume to ask so delicate a question ? ” 

“ Forty-seven ; I’ll no deny it, Lundie, and if I get Mabel 
there’ll be just a wife for every twa lustrums ! But I didna 
think Sergeant Dunham would be so humble-minded as to 
dream of giving that sweet lass of his to one like the Path 
finder ! ” 


THE PATHFINDER, 


133 

There’s no dream about it, Davy ; the man is as serious 
as a soldier about to be flcgged.” 

“Well, well, major, we are auld friends” — both ran into 
the Scotch, or avoided it, as they approached or drew away 
from their younger days, in the dialogue — “ and ought to know 
how to give and take a joke, off duty. It is possible the worthy 
man has not understood my hints, or he never would have 
thought of such a thing. The difference between an officer’s 
consort and a guide’s woman is as vast as that between the 
antiquity of Scotland and the antiquity of America. I’m auld 
bluid, too, 

Take for it, Davy, your antiquity will do you no 

good, in this affair; and ac for your blood, it is not older than 
your bones. Well, well, man, ye know the sergeant’s answer, 
and so you perceive that my influence, on which you counted 

much, can do naught for ye. Let us take a glass thegither, 
Davy, for auld acquaintance’ sake, and then ye’ll be doing 
well to remember the party that marches the morrow, and to 
forget Mabel Dunham as fasi' as ever you can.” 

“ Ah ! major, I have alv/ays found it easier to forget a wife 
than to forget a sweetheart ! When a couple are fairly married, 
all is settled but the death, as one may say, which must finally 
part us all , and it seems to me awfu’ irreverent to disturb the 
departed ; whereas, there is so much anxiety, and hope, and 
felicity, in expectation like, with the lassie, that it keeps thought 
alive.” 

“ That is just my idea of your situation, Davy, for I never 
supposed you expected any more felicity with either of your 
wives. Now, I’ve heard of fellows who were so stupid as to 
look forward to happiness with their wives, even beyond the 
grave. I drink to your success, or to your speedy recovery 
from the attack, lieutenant; and I admonish you to be more 
cautious in future, as some of these violent cases may yet carry 
you off.” 

“ Many thanks, dear major ; and a speedy termination to 
an old courtship, of which I know something. This is real 
mountain-dew, Lundie, and it warms the heart like a gleam cf 
bonny Scotland. As for the men you’ve just mentioned, they 
could have had but one wife apiece, for where there are several, 
the deeds of the women themselves may carry them different 
ways. I think a reasonable husband ought to be satisfied with 
passing his allotted time with any particular wife, in this world, 
and not to go about moping for things unattainable. I’m im 
finitely obliged to you, Majoi Duncan, for this and all youi 


134 


THE PA THFINDER. 


Other acts of friendship ; and if you could but add another, 1 
should think you had not altogether forgotten the playfellow of 
your boyhood.” 

“ Well, Davy, if the request be reasonable, and such as a 
superior ought to grant, out with it, man.” 

“ If ye could only contrive a little service for me down 
among the Thousand Isles, for a fortnight or so, I think this 
matter might be settled to the satisfaction of all parties. Just 
remember, Lundie, the lassie is the only marriageable white 
female on this frontier ! ” 

“ There is always duty for one in your line at a post, how 
ever small ; but this below can be done by the sergeant as well 
as by the quartermaster-general, and better too.” 

“ But not better than by a regimental officer. There is 
great waste, in common, among the orderlies.” 

“ I’ll think of it, Muir,” said the major, laughing, and you 
shall have my answer in the morning. Here will be a fine oc- 
casion, man, the morrow, to show yourself off before the lady ; 
you are expert with the rifle, and prizes are to be won. Make 
up your mind to display your skill, and who knows what may 
yet happen before the Scud sails ? ” 

“ I’m thinking most of the young men will try their hands 
in this sport, major ? ” 

“ That will they, and some of the old ones, too, if you ap- 
pear. To keep you in countenance. I’ll try a shot or two my- 
self, Davy ; and you know I have some name that way.” 

“ It might, indeed, do good ! The female heart. Major 
Duncan, is susceptible in many different modes, and sometimes 
in a way that the rules of philosophy might reject. Some re- 
quire a suitor to sit down before them, as it might be, in a 
regular siege, and only capitulate when the place can hold out 
no longer ; others, again, like to be carried by storm ; while 
there are hussies who can only be caught by leading them into 
an ambush. The former is the most creditable and officer-like 
process, perhaps, but I must say I think the last the most 
pleasing.” 

“ An opinion formed from experience, out of all question 
And what of the storming parties ? ” 

“ They may do for younger men, Lundie,” returned the 
quartermaster, rising and winking, a liberty which he often 
took with his commanding officer on the score of a long in- 
timacy “ every period of life has its necessities, and at forty- 
seven it’s just as well to trust a little to the head. I wish yoif 


THE PATHFINDER. 


135 

a very good-eveti, Major Duncan, and freedom from gout, with 
a sweet and refreshing sleep.” 

“ The same to yourself, Mr. Muir, with many thanks. Re- 
member the passage of arms for the morrow.” 

The quartermaster withdrew, leaving Lundie in his library 
to reflect on what had just passed. Use had so accustomed 
Major Duncan to Lieutenant Muir and all his traits and humors, 
that the conduct of the latter did not strike the former with the 
same force as it will probably strike 4he reader. In truth, 
while all men act under one common law that is termed Nature, 
the varieties in their dispositions modes of judging, feelings, 
and selfishness, are infinite. 


CHAPTER XI. 

** Compel the hawke to sit that is unmanned, 

Or make the hound, untaught, to draw the deere. 

Or bring the free against his will in band. 

Or move the sad a pleasant tale to heere, 

Your time is lost, and you no whit theneerel 
So you ne learnes, of force the heart to knit: 

She serves but those that feels sweet fancies’ fit.” 

— Mirror for Magistrates. 

It is not often that hope is rewarded by fruition as com- 
pletely as the wishes of the young men of the garrison were 
met by the state of the weather on the succeeding day. It may 
be no more than the ordinary w^ayw'ardness of man, but the 
Americans are a little accustomed to taking pride in things 
that the means of intelligent comparisons would probably show 
w’ere, in reality, of a very inferior quality, while they overlook 
or undervalue advantages that place them certainly on a level 
with, if not above, most of their fellow-creatures. Among the 
latter is the climate, which, as a whole, though far from perfect, 
is infinitely more agreeable, and quite as healthy, as those of 
most of the countries which are loudest in their denunciations 
of it. 

The heats of summer were little felt at Oswego, at the 
period of which we are writing ; for the shade of the forest, 
added to the refreshing breezes from the lake, so far reduced 
the influence of the sun, as to render the nights always cool, 
and the days seldom oppressive. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


136 

It was now September, a month in which the strong galea 
of the coast often appear to force themselves across the countr}) 
as far as the great lakes, where the inland sailor sometimes 
feels that genial influence which characterizes the winds of the 
ocean ; invigorating his frame, cheering his spirits, and arous- 
ing his moral force. Such a day was that on which the garri- 
son of Oswego assembled, to witness what its commander had 
jocularly called a “ passage of arms.” Lundie was a scholar, 
in military matters at least, and it was one of his sources of 
honest pride to direct the reading and thoughts of the young 
men under his orders, to the more intellectual parts of their 
profession. For one in his situation, his library was both good 
and extensive, and its books were freely lent to all. who desired 
to use them. Among other whims that had found their vvay 
into the garrison, through these means, was a relish for that 
sort of amusement in which it was now about to indulge ; and 
around which some chronicles of the days of chivalry had in- 
duced them to throw a parade and romance, that were not un- 
suited to the characters and habits of soldiers, or to the insulated 
and wild post occupied by this particular garrison. While so 
earnestly bent on pleasure, however, they on whom the duty 
devolved did not neglect the safety of the garrison. One stand- 
ing on the ramparts of the fort, and gazing on the waste of 
glittering water that bounds the vi^w all along the northern 
horizon, and on the slumbering and seemingly boundless forest, 
that filled the other half of the panorama, would have fancied 
the spot the very abode of peacefulness and security *, but Dun- 
can of Lundie too well knew that the woods might at any mo- 
ment give up theii hundreds, bent on the destruction of the fort 
and all it contained, and that even the treacherous lake offered 
a highway of easy approach, by which his more civilized and 
scarcely less wily foes, the French, could come upon him, at an 
unwelcome and unguarded moment. Parties were sent out, 
under old and vigilant officers, men who cared little for the 
sports of the day, to scour the forests ; and one entire company 
held the fort, under arms, with orders to maintain a vigilance 
as strict as if an enemy of superior force was known to be near. 
With these precautions, the remainder of the officers and men 
abandoned themselves, without apprehension, to the business 
of the morning. 

The spot selected for the sports was a sort of esplanade, a 
little west of the fort, and on the immediate bank of the lake. 
It had been cleared of its trees and stumps, that it might an- 
swer the purpose of a parade ground, as it possessed the ad 


THE FATE FINDER, 


137 

vantages of having its rear protected by the water, and one of 
its flanks by the works. Men drilling on it could be attacked, 
consequently, on two sides only : and as the cleared space be* 
yond it, in the direction of the west and south, was. large, any 
assailants would be compelled to quit the cover of the woods, 
before they could make any approach sufficiently near to render 
them dangerous. 

Although the regular arms of the regiment were muskets, 
some fifty rifles were produced on the present occasion. Every 
officer had one, as a part of his private provision for amuse- 
ment ; many belonged to the scouts and friendly Indians, of 
whom more or less were alwa3rs hanging about the fort ; and 
there was a public provision of them, for the use of those who 
followed the game with the express object of obtaining sup- 
plies. Among those who carried the weapon, were some five 
or six, who had reputations for knowing how to use it particu- 
larly well — so well, indeed, as to have given them a celebrity 
on the frontier : twice that number who were believed to be 
much better than common ; and many who would have been 
thought expert, in almost any situation, but the precise one in 
which they now happened to be placed. 

The distance was a hundred yards, and the weapon w^as to 
be used without a rest ; the target, a board, with the customary 
circular lines in winte paint, having the bull’s eye in the cen- 
tre. The first trials in skill commenced with challenges among 
the more ignoble of the competitors, to display their steadiness 
and dexterity in idle competition. None but the common men 
engaged in this strife, which had little to interest the specta- 
tors, among whom no officer had yet appeared. 

Most of the soldiers were Scotch, the regiment having been 
raised at Stirling and its vicinity, not many years before ; 
though, as in the case of Sergeant Dunham, many Americans 
had joined it since its arrival in the colonies. As a matter of 
course, the provincials were generally the most expert marks- 
men : and, after a desultory trial of half an hour, it w^as neces- 
sarily conceded that a youth, who had been born in the colony 
of New York, and who, coming of Dutch extraction, bore the 
euphonious name of Van Valkenburgh, but w^as familiarly called 
Follock, was the most expert of all wTo had yet tried their skill. 
It w^as just as this opinion prevailed, that the oldest captain, 
accompanied by most of the gentlemen and ladies of the fort, 
appeared on the parade. A train of some tw^enty females of 
humbler condition followed, among whom w^as seen the w^ell 


THE PATHFINDER, 


^38 

turned form, intelligent, blooming, animated countenance, and 
neat, becoming attire of Mabel Dunham. 

Of females who were officially recognized as belonging to 
the class of ladies, there were but three in the fort, all of whom 
were officers’ wives ; staid, matronly women, with the simplicity 
of the habits of middle life, singularly mixed in their deport- 
ment with their notions of professional superiority, the rights 
and duties of caste, and the etiquette of rank. The other wo 
men were the wives of non-commissioned officers and privates , 
Mabel being strictly, as had been stated by the quartermaster, 
the only real candidate for matrimony among her sex. There 
was a dozen other girls, it is true, but they were still classed 
among the children, none of them being yet of age to elevate 
them into objects of legitimate admiration. 

Some little preparation had been made for the proper re- 
ception of the females, who were placed on a low staging of 
planks, near the immediate bank of .the lake. In this vicinity 
the prizes were suspended from a post. Great care was taken 
to reserve the front seat of the stage for the three ladies and 
their children : while Mabel, and those who belonged to the 
non-commissioned officers of the regiment, occupied the second. 
The wives and daughters of the privates were huddled together 
in the rear, some standing, and some sitting, as they could find 
room. Mabel, who had already been admitted to the society of 
the officers’ wives, on the footing of an humble companion, was 
a good deal noticed by the ladies in front, who had a proper 
appreciation of modest self-respect and gentle refinement, 
though they were ail fully aware of the value of rank, more par- 
ticularly in a garrison. 

As soon as this important portion of the spectators had got 
into their places, Lundie gave orders for the trial of skill to 
proceed, in the manner that had been prescribed in his pre- 
vious orders. Some eight or ten of the best marksmen of the 
garrison now took possession of the stand, and began to fire in 
succession. Among them were officers and men indiscrim- 
inately placed, nor were the casual visitors in the foit excluded 
from the competition. As might have been expected of men 
whose amusements and comfortable subsistence equally de- 
pended on skill in the use of their weapons, it was soon found 
that they were all sufficiently expert to hit the bull’s-eye, or 
the white spot in the centre of the target. Others, who suc- 
ceeded them, it is true, were less sure, their bullets striking in 
the different circles that surrounded the centre of the target, 
without touching it. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


139 

According to the rules of the day, none could proceed to 
the second trial who had failed in the first ; and the adjutant 
of the place, who acted as master of ceremonies, or marshal of 
the day, called upon the successful adventurers by name, to 
get ready for the next effort, while he gave notice that those 
who failed to present themselves for the shot at the bull’s-eye, 
would necessarily be excluded from all the higher trials. Just 
at this moment, Lundie, the quartermaster, and Jasper Eau- 
douce appeared in the group at the stand, while the Pathfinder 
walked leisurely on the ground, without his beloved rifle — for 
him a measure so unusual, as to be understood by all present 
as a proof that he did not consider himself a competitor for 
the honors of the day. All made way for Major Duncan, who, 
as he approached the stand, in a good-humored way took his 
station, levelled his rifle carelessly, and fired. The bullet 
missed the required mark by several inches. 

“ Major Duncan is excluded from the other trials ! ” pro- • 
claimed the adjutant, in a voice so strong and confident, that 
all the elder officers and sergeants well understood that this 
failure was preconcerted, while the younger gentlemen and the 
privates felt new encouragement to proceed, on account of the 
evident impartiality with which the laws of the sports were ad- 
ministered, nothing being so attractive to the unsophisticated, 
as the appearance of rigorous justice, and nothing so rare as 
its actual administration. 

“ Now, Master Eau-douce, comes your turn,” said Muir, 

“ and if you do not beat the major, I shall say that your hand 
is better skilled with the oar than with the rifle.” 

Jasper’s handsome face flushed, he stepped upon the stand, 
cast a hasty glance at Mabel, whose pretty form he ascertained 
was bending eagerly forward, as if to note the result, dropped 
the barrel of his rifle, with but little apparent care, into the 
palm of his left hand, raised the muzzle for a single instant, 
with .exceeding steadiness, and fired. The bullet passed di- 
rectly through the centre of the bull’s eye, much the best shot 
of the morning, since the others had merely touched the paint. 

“ Well performed. Master Jasper,” said Muir, as soon as the 
result was declared ; “ and a shot that might have done credit 
to an older head and a more experienced eye. I’m thinking, 
notwithstanding, there was some of a youngster’s luck in it, for 
ye were no partic’lar in the aim ye took. Ye may be quick, 
feau-douce, in the movement, but ye’r not philosophic nor sci- 
entific in ye’r management of the weapon. Now, Sergeant 
Dunham, I’ll thank you to request the ladies to give a closer 




THE PATHFINDER, 


attention than common, for I’m about to make that use of the 
rifle which may be called the intellectual. Jasper would have 
killed, I allow ; but then there w^ould not have been half the 
satisfaction in receiving such a shot, as in receiving one that is 
discharged scientifically. 

All this time the - quartermaster was preparing himself for 
the scientific trial : but he delayed his aim until he saw that 
the eye of Mabel, in common with those of her companions, 
was fastened on him in curiosity. As the others left him room, 
out of respect to his rank, no one stood near the competitoi 
but his commanding officer, to whom he now said in his famil- 
iar manner ; 

“ Ye see, Lundie, that something is to be gained by excit- 
ing a female’s curiosity. It’s an active sentiment, is curiosity, 
and, properly improved, may lead to gentler inclinations in the 
end.” 

“ Very true, Davy ; but you keep us all waiting while ye 
make your preparations ; and h^re is Pathfinder drawing near 
to catch a lesson from your greater experience.” 

“Well, Pathfinder, and so yo7i have come to get an idea, 
too, concerning the philosophy of shooting ! I do not wish to 
hide my light under a bushel, and ye’re welcome to all ye’ll 
learn. Do you mean to try a shot versel’, man ? ” 

“ Why should I, quartermaster — why should I ? I want 
none of the prizes ; and as for honor, I have enough of that, if 
it’s any honor to shoot better than yourself. I’m not a woman 
to wear a calash.” 

“ Very true ; but ye might find a woman that is precious in 
your eyes to wear it for ye, as ” 

“ Come, Davy,” interrupted the major, “your shot or a re- 
treat. The adjutant is getting to be impatient.” 

“ The quartermaster’s department, and the adjutant’s de- 
partment, are seldom compilable, Lundie ; but I’m ready. 
Stand a little aside. Pathfinder, and give the ladies an oppor- 
tunity.” 

Lieutenant Muir now took his attitude with a good deal of 
studied elegance, raised his rifle slowly, lowered it, raised it 
again, repeated the manoeuvres, and fired. 

“ Missed the target altogether ! ” shouted the man wffiose 
duty it was to mark the bullets, and who had little relish for 
the quartermaster’s tedious science. “ Missed the target.” 

“ It cannot be ! ” cried Muir, his face flushing equally with 
indignation and shame : “ it cannot be, adjutant ; for I never 



THE PATHFINDER. 


I4t 

did so awkward a thing in my life. I appeal to the ladies foi 
a jiister judgment.” 

“The ladies shut their eyes when you fired,” exclaimed the 
regimental wags. ^ “Your preparations alarmed them.” 

“ I will na believe such a calumny of the leddies, nor sic’ a 
reproach on my own skill,” returned the quartermaster, grow* 
mg more and more Scotch, as he warmed with his feelings : 
“ it’s a conspiracy to rob a meritorious man of his dues.” 

“ It’s a dead miss^ Muir,” said the laughing Lundie, “ and 
ye’ll just sit down quietly with the disgrace.” 

“No — no — major,” Pathfinder at length observed, “the 
quartermaster is a good shot, for a slow one, and a measured 
distance ; though nothing extr’orn ary, forraa-1 sarvice. He has 
covered Jasper’s bullet, as will be seen, if any one will take the 
trouble to examine the target.” 

The respect for Pathfinder’s skill, and for his quickness and 
accuracy of sight, was so profound and general, that the instant 
he made this declaration the spectators began to distrust their 
own opinions, and a dozen rushed to the target, in order to as- 
certain the fact. There, sure enough it was found that the 
quartermaster’s bullet had gone through the hole made by 
Jasper’s and that, too, so accurately as to require a minute ex- 
amination to be certain of the circumstances ; which, however 
was soon clearly established, by discovering one bullet over the 
other, in the stump against which the target was placed. 

“ I told ye, ladies, ye were about to witness the influence 
of science on gunnery,” said the quartermaster, advancing to- 
ward the staging occupied by the females. “ Major Duncan 
derides the idea of mathematics entering into target-shooting; 
but I tell him philosophy colors and enlarges, and improves, 
and dilates, and explains everything that belongs to human 
life, whether it be a shooting-match or a sermon. In a word, 
philosophy is philosophy, and that is saying all that the subject 
requires.” 

“ I trust you exclude love from the catalogue,” observed the 
wife of a captain, who knew the history of the quartermaster’s 
marriages, and who had a woman’s malice against the monopo- 
lizer of her sex — “ it seems that philosophy has little in com- 
mon with love.” 

“ You wouldn’t say that, madam, if your heart had expe- 
rienced many trials. It’s the man or the woman that has had 
many occasions to improve the affections that can best speak 
of such matters ; and, believe me, of all love, philosophical is 
the most lasting, as it is the most rational.” ' 


THE PA THFINDER, 


f42 

“ You would then recommend experience as an improve 
ment on the passion ? ” 

“ Your quick mind has conceived the idea at a glance. The 
happiest marriages are those in which youth, and beauty, and 
confidence, on one side, rely on the sagacity, moderation, and 
prudence of year's — middle age, I mean, madam, for I'll no den3r^ 
that there is such a thing as a husband’s being too old for a 
wife. Here is Sergeant Dunham’s charming daughter, too, now 
to approve of such sentiments, I’m certain — her character for 
discretion being already well established in the garrison, short 
as has been her residence among us.” 

“ Sergeant Dunham’s daughter is scarcely a fitting inter- 
locutor in a discourse between you and me, Lieutenant Muir,” 
rejoined the captain’s lady, with careful respect for her own 
dignity — “ and yonder is the Pathfinder about to take his 
chance, by way of changing the subject.” 

“ I protest. Major Dunham, I protest ” — cried Muir, hurry- 
ing back toward the stand, with both arms elevated by way of 
enforcing his words — I protest, in the strongest terms, gentle- 
men, against Pathfinder’s being admitted into these sports with 
Killdeer, which is a piece, to say nothing of long habit, that is 
altogether out of proportion, for a trial of skill against govern- 
ment rifles.” 

“ Killdeer is taking its rest, quartermaster,” returned Path- 
finder, calmly, “ and no one here thinks of disturbing it. I did 
not think myself of pulling a trigger to-day ; but Sergeant Dun- 
ham has been persuading me that I shall not do proper honoi 
to his handsome daughter, who came in under my care, if I 
am backward on such an occasion. I’m using Jasper’s rifle, 
quartermaster, as you may see, and that is no better than your 
own.” 

Lieutenant Muir was now obliged to acquiesce, and every 
eye turned toward the Pathfinder, as he took the required station. 
The air and attitude of the celebrated guide and hunter were 
extremely fine, as he raised his tall form and levelled the piece 
showing perfect self-command, and a thorough knowledge of 
the power of the human frame, as well as of the weapon. Path- 
finder was not what is usually termed a handsome man, though 
his appearance excited so much confidence, and commanded 
respect. Tall, and even muscular, his frame might have been 
esteemed nearly perfect, were it not for the total absence of 
everything like flesh. Whip-cord was scarcely more rigid than 
his arms and legs, or, at need, more pliable ; but the outlines 
of his person were rather too angular for the proportion that 


TFIE PA TH FINDER, 


143 


the eye most approves. Still, his motions, being natural, were 
graceful ; and, being calm and regulated, they gave him an 
air of dignity that associated well with the idea that was so prev- 
alent of his services and peculiar merits. His honest, open 
features were burnt to a bright red, that comported with the 
notion of exposure and hardships, while his sinewy hands de- 
noted force, and a species of use that was removed from the 
stiffening and deforming effects of labor. Although no one 
perceived any of those gentler or more insinuating qualities 
which are apt to win upon a woman’s affections, as he raised 
his rifle, not a female eye was fastened on him without a silent 
approbation of the freedom of his movements, and the manli- 
ness of his air. Thought was scarcely quicker than his aim, 
and, as the smoke floated above his head, the breech of his 
rifle was seen on the ground, the hand of the Pathfinder was 
leaning on the barrel, and his honest countenance was illumin- 
ated by his usual silent, hearty laugh. 

“ If one dared to hint at such a thing,” cried Major Dun- 
can, “ I should say that the Pathfinder had also missed the 
target ! ” 

. “ No — no — major,” returned the guide, confidently, “ that 
would a risky declaration. I didn’t load the piece, and can’t 
say what was in it ; but if it was lead, you will find the bullet 
driving down those of the quartermaster’s and Jasper’s; else is 
not my name Pathfinder.” 

A shout from the target announced the truth of this asser- 
tion. 

“That’s not all — that’s not all, boys,” called out the guide, 
who was now slowly advancing toward the stage occupied by 
the females — “ if you find the target touched at all, I’ll own to a 
miss. The quartermaster cut the wood, but you’ll find no wood 
cut by that last messenger.” 

“ Very true. Pathfinder, very true,” answered Muir, who was 
lingering near Mabel, though ashamed to address her partic- 
ularly, in the presence of the officers’ wives. “ The quarter- 
master did cut the wood, and by that means he opened a passage 
for your bullet ; which went through the hole he had made.” 

“ Well, quartermaster, there goes the nail, and we’ll see who 
can drive it closest, you or I ; for, though I did not think of 
showing what a rifle can do to-day, now my hand is in, I’ll turn 
my back to no man that carries King George’s commission. 
Chingachgook is outlying, or he might force me into some of 
the niceties of the art ; but as for you, quartermaster, if the 
nail don t stop you, the potato will.” 


144 


THE PATHFINDER. 


“ You’re over-boastful this morning, Pathfinder; but you’ll 
find you’ve no green boy, fresh from the settlements and the 
towns, to deal with, I will assure ye ! ” 

“ I know that well, quartermaster ; I know that well, and 
shall not deny your experience. You’ve lived many years on 
the frontiers, and' I’ve heard of you in the colonies, and among 
the Injins, too, quite a human life ago.” 

“ Na — na — ” interrupted Muir, in his broadest Scotch^ 
*Uhis is injustice, man. I’ve no lived so very long, neither.” 

“I’ll do you justice, lieutenant, even if you get the best in 
the potato-trial. I say you’ve passed a good human life, for a 
soldier, in places where the rifle is daily used, and I know you 
are a creditable and ingenious marksman ; but then you are 
not a true rifle-shooter. As for boasting, I hope I’m not a vain 
talker about my own exploits ; but a man’s gifts are his gifts, 
and it’s flying in the face of Providence to deny them. The 
sergeant’s daughter, here, shall judge atween us, if you have 
the stomach to submit to so pretty a judge.” 

The Pathfinder had named Mabel as the arbiter, because 
he admired her, and because, in his eyes, rank had little or no 
value ; but Lieutenant Muir shrank at such a reference in the 
presence of the wives of the officers. He would gladly keep 
himself constantly before the eyes and the imagination of the 
object of his wishes ; but he was still too much under the in- 
fluence of old prejudices, and perhaps too wary, to appear openly 
as her suitor, unless he saw something very like a certainty of 
success. On the discretion of Major Duncan he had a full re- 
liance, and he apprehended no betrayal from that quarter; 
but be was quite aware, should it ever get abroad that he had 
been refused by the child of a non-commissioned officer, he 
would find great difficulty in making his approaches to any other 
woman of a condition to which he might reasonably aspire. 
Notwithstanding these doubts and misgivings, Mabel looked 
so prettily, blushed so charmingly, smiled so sweetly, and alto- 
gether presented so winning a picture of youth, spirit, modesty, 
and beauty, that he found it exceedingly tempting to be kept 
so prominently before her imagination, 'and to be able to ad- 
dress her freely. 

“ You shall have it your own way. Pathfinder,” he answered, 
as soon as his doubts had settled down into determination— 
“ let the sergeant’s daughter— his charming daughter, I should 
have termed her — be the umpire, then ; and to her we will 
both dedicate the prize that one or the other must certainly 
win. Pathfinder must be humored, ladies, as you perceive^ 


THE PATHFINDEE. 


145 

else, no doubt, we should have had the honor to submit our- 
selves to one of your charming society.” 

A call for the competitors now drew the quartermaster and 
his adversary away ; and in a few moments the second trial of 
skill commenced. A common wrought nail was driven lightly 
into the target, its head having been first touched with paint, 
and the marksman was required to hit it or he lost his chances 
in the succeeding trials. No one was permitted to enter on 
this occasion who had already failed in the essay against the 
bull’s-eye. 

There might have been half a dozen aspirants for the honors 
of this trial ; one or two, who had barely succeeded in touching 
the spot of paint in the previous strife, preferring to rest their 
reputations there ; feeling certain that they could not succeed 
in the greater effort that was now exacted of them. The first 
three adventurers failed, all coming quite near the mark, but 
neither touching it. The fourth person who presented himself 
was the quartermaster, who, after going through the usual atti- 
tudes, so far succeeded as to carry away a small portion of the 
head of the nail, planting his bullet by the side of its point. 
This was not considered an extraordinary shot, though it brought 
the adventurer within the category. 

“You’ve saved your bacon, quartermaster, as they say in 
the settlements of their creatur’s,” cried Pathfinder, laughing, 
“ but it would take a long time to build a house with a hammer 
no better than yourn. Jasper, here, will show you how a nail 
is to be started, or the lad has lost some of his steadiness of 
hand and sartainty of eye. You would have done better your- 
self, lieutenant, had you not been so much bent on so’gerizing 
your figure. Shooting is a nat’ral gift, and is to be exercised 
in a nat’ral way.” 

“ We shall see, Pathfinder ; I call that a pretty attempt at 
a nail ; and I doubt if the 55th has another hammer, as you 
call it, that can do just that same thing over again.” 

“ Jasper is not in the 55th, but there goes his rap ! ” 

As the Pathfinder spoke, the bullet of Eau-douce hit the 
nail square, and drove it into the target within an inch of the 
head. 

“Be all ready to clinch it, boys,” cried out Pathfinder, step. 
/ ping into his friend’s tracks the instant they were vacant. 
“ Never mind a new nail ; I can see that, though the paint is 
gone, and what I can see I can hit at a hundred yards, though 
it were only a mosquito’s eye. Be ready to clinch l ” 


46 


THE PA THFINDER. 


The rifle cracked, the bullet sped its way, and the head oi 
the nail was buried in the wood, covered by the piece of flat- 
tened lead. 

“ Well, Jasper, lad,” continued Pathfinder, dropping the 
breech of his rifle to the ground, and resuming the discourse 
as if he thought nothing of his own exploit, “ you improve 
daily. A few more tramps on land, in my company, and the 
best marksman on the frontiers will have occasion to look 
keenly when he takes his stand ag’in you. The quartermaster 
is respectable, but he will never get any farther ; whereas you, 
Jasper, have the gift, and may one day defy any who pull 
trigger.” 

“ Hoot — hoot ! ” exclaimed Muir, “ do you call hitting the 
head of the nail respectable only, when it’s the perfection of 
the art? Any one in the least refined and elevated in senti- 
ment, knows that the delicate touches denote the master; 
whereas your sledge-hammer blows come from the rude and un- 
instructed. If ‘ a miss is as good as a mile,’ a hit ought to 
be better. Pathfinder, whether it wound or kill.” 

“The surest way of settling this rivalry, will be to make an- 
other trial,” observed Lundie, “ and that will be of the potato. 
You’re Scotch, Mr. Muir, and might fare better were it a cake 
or a thistle ; but frontier law has declared for the American 
fruit, and the potato it shall be.” 

As Major Duncan manifested some impatience of manner, 
Muir had too much tact to delay the sports any longer with his 
discursive remarks, but judiciously prepared himself for the 
next appeal. To say the truth, the quartermaster had little or 
no faith in his own success in the trial of skill that was to fol- 
low, nor would he have been so free in presenting himself as a 
competitor at all, had he anticipated it would have been made. 
But Major Duncan, who was somewhat of a humorist in his own 
quiet Scotch way, had secretly ordered it to be introduced ex- 
pressly to mortify him ; for a laird himself, Lundie did not 
relish the notion that one who might claim to be a gentleman 
should bring discredit to his caste by forming an unequal al- 
liance. As soon as everything was prepared, Muir was sum- 
moned to the stand, and the potato was held in readiness to b& 
thrown. As the sort of feat we are about to offer to the reader, 
however, may be new to him, a word in explanation will render 
the matter more clear, A potato of large size was selected, 
and given to one who stood at the distance of twenty yards 
from the stand. At the word “ heave,” which was given by the 
i:iarksman, the vegetable was thrown with a gentle toss into the 


THE PA THFINDER. 


air, and it was the business of the adventurer to cause a ball to 
pass through it before it reached the ground. 

The quartermaster in a hundred experiments, had once suc- 
ceeded in accomplishing this difficult feat, but he now essayed 
to perform it again with a sort of blind hope that was fated to 
be disappointed. The potato was thrown in the usual manner, 
the rifle was discharged, but the flying target was untouched. 

“ To the right about, and fall out, quartermaster ! ” said Lun- 
die, smiling at the success of his own artifice — “ the honor of 
the silken calash will lie between Jasper Eau-douce and Path- 
finder.” 

“ And how is the trial to end, major ? ” inquired the latter. 
“ Are we to have the two potato trial, or is it to be settled by 
centre and skin .? ” 

“ By center and skin, if there is any perceptible difference } 
otherwise the double shot must follow.” 

“This is an awful moment to me. Pathfinder,” observed Jas- 
per, as he moved toward the stand, his face actually losing its 
cqlor in intensity of feeling. 

Pathfinder gazed earnestly at the young man, and then, beg* 
ging Major Duncan to have patience for a moment, he led his 
friend out of hearing of all near him before he spoke. 

“You seem to take this matter to heart, Jasper,” the hunter 
remarked, keeping his eyes fastened on those of the youth. 

“ I must own. Pathfinder, that my feelings were never before 
so much bound up in success.” 

“And do you so, much crave to outdo me, an old and tried 
friend ? — and that, as it might be, in my own way ? Shooting 
is my gift, boy, and no common hand can equal mine ! ” 

“ I know' it — I know it. Pathfinder — but — yet ” 

“But what, Jasper, boy? — speak freely; you talk to a 
friend.” 

The young man compressed his lips, dashed his hand across 
his eyes, and flushed and paled alternately, like a girl confessing 
her love. Then squeezing the other’s hand, he said calmly, 
like one whose manhood has overcome all other sensations : 

“ I w^ould lose an arm, Pathfinder, to be able to make an 
offering of the calash to Mabel Dunham ! ” 

The hunter dropped his eyes to the ground, and, as he 
walked slowly back toward the stand, he seemed to ponder 
deeply on what he had just heard. 

“You never could succeed in the double trial, Jasper 1 ” he 
suddenly remarked. 

“ Of that I am certain, and it troubles me.” 


148 


THE PATHFINDER 


“ What a creature is mortal man ! He pines for things 
which are not of his gift, and treats the bounties of Providence 
lightly. No matter — no matter. Take your station, Jasper, 
for the major is waiting — and, harkee, lad — I must touch the 
skin, for I could not show my face in the garrison with less than 
that.” 

“ I suppose I must submit to my fate,” returned Jasper, 
flushing and losing his color, as before ; “ but I will make an 
effort if I die.” 

“ What a thing is mortal man ! ” repeated Pathfinder, falling 
back to allow his friend room to take his aim — “ he overlooks 
his own gifts, and craves them of another ! ” 

The potato was thrown, Jasper fired, and the shout that fol- 
lowed preceded the announcement of the fact that he had driven 
his bullet through its centre, or so nearly so as to merit that 
award. 

“ Here is a competitor worthy of you. Pathfinder,” cried 
Major Duncan, with delight, as the former took his station, 
“ and we may look to some fine shooting in the double trial.” 

“ What a thing is mortal man ! ” repeated the hunter, scarce 
seeming to notice what was passing around him, so much were 
his thoughts absorbed in his own reflections. “ Toss.” 

The potato was tossed, the rifle cracked — it was remarked 
just as the little black ball seemed stationary in the air, for the 
marksman evidently took unusual heed to his aim — and then a 
look of disappointment and wonder succeeded among those who 
caught the falling target. 

“ Two holes in one 1 ” called out the major. 

“ The skin — the skin,” was the answer : “ only the skin ! ” 

“ Plow’s this Pathfinder ! Is Jasper Eau-douce to carry off 
the honors of the day ? ” 

“ The calash is his,” returned the other, shaking his head, 
and w’alking quietly away from the stand. “ What a creature is 
a mortal man ! Never satisfied with his own gifts, but forever 
craving that which Providence denies ? ” 

As Pathfinder had not buried his bullet in the potato, but 
had cut through the skin, the prize was immediately adjudged 
to Jasper. The calash was in the hands of the latter, when the 
quartermaster approached, and, with a politic air of cordiality, 
he wished his successful rival joy of his victory. 

“ But now you’ve got the calash, lad, it’s of no use to you,’’ 
he added ; “ it will never make a sail, nor even an ensign. I’m 
thinking, Eau-douce, you’d no be sorry to see its value in good 
silver of the king ? ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


149 


“ Money cannot buy it, lieutenant,” returned Jasper, whose 
eye lighted up with all the fire of success and joy. “ I would 
rather have won this calash than have obtained fifty new suits 
of sails for the Scud ! ” 

“ Hoot — hoot — lad ! you are going mad like all the rest of 
them. I’d even venture to offer half a guinea for the trifle, 
rather than it should lie kicking about in the cabin of your cut- 
ter, and, in the end, become an ornament for the head of a 
squaw.” 

Although Jasper did not know that the wary quartermaster 
had not offered half the actual cost of the prize, he heard th( 
proposition with indifference. Shaking his head in the negative^ 
he advanced toward the stage, where his approach excited a 
little commotion, the ofiicers’ ladies, one and all, having deter- 
mined to accept the present, should the gallantry of the young 
sailor induce him to offer it. But Jasper’s diffidence, no less 
than admiration for another, w'ould have prevented him from 
aspiring to the honor of complimenting any whom he thought so 
much his superiors. 

“ Mabel,” he said, “ this prize is for you, unless ” 

“ Unless what Jasper ? ” answered the girl, losing her own 
bashfulness in the natural and generous wish to relieve his 
embarrassment, though both reddened in away to betray strong 
feeling. 

“ Unless you may think too indifferently of it, because it is 
offered by one who may have no right to believe his gift will be 
accepted.” 

“ I do accept it, Jasper ; and it shall be a sign of the danger 
I have passed in your company, and of the gratitude I feel for 
your care of me — your care, and that of the Pathfinder.” 

“ Never mind me, never mind me,” exclaimed the latter ; 
“this is Jasper’s luck and Jasper’s gift ; give him full credit for 
both. My turn may come another day ; mine and the quarter- 
master’s, who seems to grudge the boy the calash, though what 
he can want of it, I cannot understand, for he has no wife.” 

“And has Jasper Eau-douce a wife Or have you a wife 
yourself. Pathfinder \ I may want it to help to get a wife, or 
as a memorial that I have had a wife, or as proof how much I 
admire the sex, or because it is a female garment, or for some 
other equally respectable motive. It’s not the unreflecting that 
are the most prized by the thoughtful, and there is no surer 
sign that a man made a good husband to his first consort, let 
me tell you all, then to see him speedily looking around for a 
competent successor. The affections are good gifts from Provh 


THE PATHFINDER. 


^ 5 ° 

dence, and they that have loved one faithfully, prove how mucl: 
of this bounty has been lavished upon them by loving anothei 
as soon as possible.” 

“ It may be so — it may be so, I am no practitioner in such 
things, and cannot gainsay it. But, Mrbel, here, the sergeant’s 
daughter, will give 'you full credit for the words. — Come Jasper, 
although our hands are out, let us see what the other lads can 
do with the rifle.” 

Pathfinder and his companions retired, for the sports were 
about to proceed. The ladies, however, were not so much en- 
grossed with rifle-shooting as to neglect the calash. It passed 
from hand to hand ; the silk was felt, the fashion criticized, and 
the work examined, and divers opinions were privately ventured 
concerning the fitness of so handsome a thing’s passing into 
the possession of a non-commissioned officer’s child. 

“ Perhaps you will be disposed to sell that calash, Mabel, 
when it has been a short time in your possession } ” inquired 
the captain’s lady. “ Wear it, I should think, you never can.” 

“ I may not wear it, madam,” returned our heroine, mod- 
estly, “ but I should not like to part with it, either.” 

“ I dare say Sergeant Dunham keeps you above the necessity 
of selling your clothes child ; but, at the same time, it is money 
thrown away to keep an article of dress you can never wear.” 

“ I should be unwilling to part with the gift of a friend.” 

“ But the young man himself will think all the better of you 
for your prudence after the triumph of the day is forgotten. 
It is a pretty and a becoming calash, and ought not to be thrown 
away.” 

“ I’ve no intention to throw it away, ma’am, and, if you 
please, would rather keep it.” 

As you will, child ; girls of your age often overlook their 
real advantages. Remember, however, if you do determine to 
dispose of the thing, that it is bespoke, and that I will not take 
it if you ever even put it on your own head.” 

“ Yes, ma’am,” said Mabel, in the meekest voice imaginable, 
though her eyes looked like diamonds, and her cheeks reddened 
to the tints of two roses as she placed the forbidden garment 
over her well-turned shoulders, where she kept it a minute, as 
if to try its fitness, and then quietly removed it again. 

The remainder of the sports offered nothing of interest. 
The shooting was reasonably good, but the trials were all of a 
scale lower than those related, and the competitors were soon 
left to themselves. The ladies and most of the officers with- 
drew, and the remainder of the females soon followed their ex 


THE PA THFINDER. 


151 

ample. Mabel was returning along the low, flat rocks that line 
the shore of the lake, dangling her pretty calash from a pret- 
tier finger, when Pathfinder met her. He carried the rifle which 
he had used that day, but his manner had less of the frank ease 
of the hunter about it than usual, while his eyes seemed roving 
and uneasy. After a few unmeaning words concerning the 
noble sheet of water before them, he turned toward his com* 
panion, with strong interest in his countenance, and said : — 

“Jasper earned that calash for you, Mabel, without much 
trial of his gifts.” 

“ It was fairly done. Pathfinder.” 

“ No doubt — no doubt. The bullet passed neatly through 
the potato, and no man could have done more ; though others 
might have done as much.” 

“ But no one did as much ! ” exclaimed Mabel, with an ani- 
mation that she instantly regretted, for she saw by the pained 
look of the guide that he was mortified equally by the remark 
and by the feeling with which it was uttered. 

■ “It is true — it is true, Mabel, no one did as much then but 
• — yet, there is no reason I should deny my gifts which come 
from Providence — yes, yes; no one did as much there, but you 
shall know what can be done here. Do you observe the gulls 
that are flying over our heads } ” 

“ Certainly, Pathfinder — there are too many to escape no- 
tice.” 

“ Here, where they cross each other in sailing about,” he 
added, cocking and raising his rifle — “ the two — the two — now 
look ! ” ^ 

The piece was presented quick as thought as two of the 
birds came in a line, though distant from each other many 
yards — the report followed, and the bullet passed through the 
bodies of both the victims. No sooner had the gulls fallen into 
the lake, than Pathfinder dropped the breech of the rifle and 
laughed in his own peculiar manner, every shade of dissatisfac- 
tion and mortified pride having left his honest face. 

“ That is something, Mabel, that is something ; although 
IVe no calash to give you ! But ask Jasper himself ; I’ll leave 
it all to Jasper, for a truer tongue and heart are not in 
America.” 

“Then it was not Jasper’s fault that he gained the prize ? ” 

“Not it. He did his best, and he did well. For one that 
has water gifts rather than land gifts, Jasper is oncommonly ex* 
part, and a better backer no one need wish, ashore or afloat. 
But it was my fault, Mabel, that he got the calash ; though it 


152 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


makes no difference — it makes no difference, the thing has gona 
to the right person.” 

“ I believe I understand you, Pathfinder,” said Mabel, blush- 
ing in spite of herself, ‘^and I look upon the calash as the joint 
gift of yourself and Jasper.” 

“ That would not be doing justice to the lad, neither. He 
won the garment, and had a right to give it away. The most 
you may think, Mabel, is to believe that, had I won it, it would 
have gone to the same person.” 

“ I will remember that. Pathfinder, and take care that others 
know your skill, as it has been proved upon the poor gulls in 
my presence.” 

“ Lord bless you, Mabel, there is no more need of your 
talking in favor of my shooting, on this frontier, than of your 
talking about the water in the lake, or the sun in the heavens. 
Everybody knows what I can do in that way, and your words 
would be thrown away, as much as French would be thrown 
away on an American bear.” 

“Then you think that Jasper knew you were giving him 
this advantage of which he has so unhandsomely availed him- 
self 1 ” said Mabel, the color which had imparted so much lustre 
to her eyes gradually leaving her face, which became grave and 
thoughtful. 

“I do not say that, but very far from it. We all forget 
things that we have known, when eager after our wishes. Jasper 
is satisfied that I can pass one bullet through two potatoes, as 
I sent my bullet through the gulls ; and he knows no other man 
on the frontier can do the same thing. But, with the calash 
before his eyes, and the hope of giving it to you, the lad was 
inclined to think better of himself, just at that moment, perhaps, 
than he ought. No — no — there’s nothing mean or distrustful 
about Jasper Eau-douce, though it is a gift, nat’ral to all young 
men, to wish to appear well in the eyes of handsome young 
women.” 

“ I’ll try to forget all but the kindness you’ve both shown 
to a poor motherless girl,” said Mabel, struggling to keep down 
emotions that she scarcely knew how to account for herself. 
“ Believe me. Pathfinder, I can never forget all you have already 
done for me — you and Jasper — and this new proof of your 
regard is not thrown away. Here — here is a brooch that is 
of silver, I offer it as a token that I owe you life or liberty.” 

“ What shall I do with this, Mabel ? ” asked the bewildered 
hunter, holding the simple trinket in his hand. “ I have 
neither buckle nor button about me, for I wear nothing but 


THE PATHFINDER. 


153 

leather strings, and them of good deer-skins. It’s prett} to 
the eye, but it’s prettier far on the spot it came from, than it 
can be about me.” 

“ Nay, put it in your hunting-shirt ; it will become it well. 
Remember, Pathfinder, that it is a token of friendship between 
us. and a sign that I can never forget you or your services.” 

Mabel then smiled an adieu, and, bounding up the bank, 
she was soon lost to view behind the mound of the fort. 


CHAPTER XII. 

** Lol dusky masses steal in dubious sight, 

Along the leaguered wall, and bristling bank 
Of the armed river ; while with straggling light, 

The stars peep through the vapor, dim and dank.” 

Byron. 

A FEW hours later, Mabel Dunham was on the bastion that 
overlooked the river and the lake, seemingly in deep thought. 
The evening was calm and soft, and the question had arisen 
whether the party for the ' Thousand Islands would be able to 
get out that night or not, on account of the total absence of 
wind. The stores, arms, and ammunition, were already shipped, 
and even Mabel’s effects were on board ; but the small drah of 
men that was to go was still ashore, there being no apparent 
prospect of the cutter’s getting under way. Jasper had warped 
the Scud out of the cove, and so far up the stream as to enable 
him to pass through the outlet of the river whenever he choose ; 
but there he still lay, riding at single anchor. The drafted 
men were lounging about the shore of the cove, undecided 
whether or not to pull off. 

The sports of the morning had left a quiet in the garrison 
that was in harmony with the whole of the beautiful scene, and 
Mabel felt its influence on her feeling, though probably too 
little accustomed to speculate on such sensations to be aware 
of the cause. Everything near appeared lovely and soothing, 
while the solemn grandeur of the silent forest and placid ex 
panse of the lake lent a sublimity that other scenes might have 
wanted. For the first time, Mabel felt the hold that the towns 
and civilization had gained on her habits sensibly weakened, 
and the warm-hearted girl began to think that a life passed 
amid objects such as these around her might be happy. How 


THE PATHFINDER. 


354 

far the experience of the last ten days came in aid of the calm 
and holy eventide, and contributed toward producing that young 
conviction, may be suspected rather than affirmed, in this early 
portion of our legend. 

“ A charming sunset, Mabel,” said the hearty voice of hei 
uncle, so close to the ear of our heroine as to cause her to start 
— “ a charming sunset, girl, for a fresh-water concern, though 
•we should think but little of it at sea.” 

“ And is not Nature the same, on shore or at sea; on a lake 
like this, or on the ocean ? Does not the sun shine on all 
alike, dear uncle, and can we not feel gratitude for the bless- 
ings of Providence as strongly on this remote frontier as in our 
own Manhattan } ” 

“ The girl has fallen in with some of her mother’s books ! 
— though I should think the sergeant would scarcely make a 
second march with such trumpery among his baggage. Is not 
Nature the same, indeed ! — Now, Mabel, do you imagine that 
the nature of a soldier is the same as that of a seafaring man ? 
— You’ve relations in both callings, and ought to be able to 
answer.” 

“ But, uncle, I mean human nature ” 

“ So do I, girl ; the human nature of a seaman, and the 
human nature of one of these fellows of the 55 th, not even ex- 
cepting your own father. Here have they had a shooting- 
match — target-firing I should call it — this day, and what a 
different thing has it been from a target-firing afloat ! There 
we should have sprung our broadside, sported with round shot, 
at an object half a mile off at the very nearest ; and the pota- 
toes, if there happened to be any on board, as quite likely 
would not have been the case, would have been left in the 
cook’s coppers. It may be an honorable calling, that of a 
soldier, Mabel, but an experienced hand sees many follies 
and weaknesses in one of these forts. As for that bit of a lake, 
you know my opinion of it already, and I wish to disparage 

nothing. No real seafarer disparages anything ; but d e if 

I regard this here Ontario, as they call it, as more than so 
much water in a ship’s scuttled-butt. Now, look you here, 
Mabel, if yo-j wish to understand the difference between the 
ocean and a lake, I can make you comprehend it with a single 
look : this is what one may call a calm, seeing that there is no 
wind ; though, to own the truth, I do not think the calms are 
as calm as them we get outside ” 

“ Uncle, there is not a breath of air ! I do not think it 


THE PATHFINDER. 


153 

possible for the leaves to be more immovably still han those 
of the entire forest are at this very moment.” 

“ Leaves ! what are leaves, child 'i there are no leaves at 
sea. If you wish to know whether it is a dead calm or not, try 
a mold candle — your dips flaring too much — and then you may 
be certain whether there is or not any wind. If you were in a 
latitude where the air was so still that you found a difficulty in 
stirring it to draw it in, in breathing, you might fancy it a calm. 
People are often on a short allowance of air in the calm lati- 
tudes. Here, again, look at that water ! — It is like milk in a 
pan, with no more motion now than there is in a full hogshead 
before the bung is started. On the ocean the water is never 
still, let the air be as quiet as it may.” 

“ The water of the ocean never still, uncle Cap ! — not even 
in a calm ? ” 

“ Bless your heart, no, child. The ocean breathes like a 
living being, and its bosom is always heaving, as the poetizers 
call it, though there be no more air than is to be found in a 
siphon. No man ever saw the ocean still like this lake ; but it 
heaves and sets as if it had lungs.” 

“ And this lake is not absolutely still, for you perceive there 
is a little ripple on the shore, and you may even hear the surt 
plunging, at moments, against the rocks.” 

“ All d d poetry ! One may call a bubble a ripple if he 

will, and washing decks a surf ; but Lake Ontario is no more 
the Atlantic than a Powles Hook periagua is a first-rate. That 
Jasper, notwithstanding, is a fine lad, and wants instruction 
only to make a man of him ! ” 

“ Do you think him ignorant, uncle ? ” answered Mabel, 
prettily adjusting her hair, in order to do which she was obliged, 
or fancied she was obliged, to turn away her face. “ To me 
Jasper Eau-douce appears to know more than most of the young 
men of his class. He has read but little, for books are not 
plenty in this part of the world, but* he has thought much; at 
least so it seems to me for one so young.” 

“ He is ignorant, he is ignorant, as all must be who navi- 
gate an inland water like this. He can make a flat-knot and a 
timber-hitch, it is true ; but he has no more notion of crowning 
a cable, now, or of a carrickbend, than you have of catting an 
anchor. No — no, Mabel; we both owe something to Jasper 
and the Pathfinder, and I have been thinking how I can best 
serve them, for I hold ingratitude to be the vice of a hog. Some 
people say it is the vice of a king ; but I say it is the failing 0/ 


THE PA THFWDER. 


156 

a hog ; for, treat the animal to your own dinner, and he would 
eat you for the dessert.’’ 

“ Very true, deg,r uncle, and we ought indeed to do all we 
can to express our proper sense of the services of both these 
brave men.” ^ . 

“ Spoken like your mother’s daughter, girl, and in a way to 
do credit to the Cap family. Now, I’ve hit upon a traverse 
that will just suit all parties, and as soon as we get back from 
this little expedition down the lake, among them there Thousand 
Islands, and I am ready to return, it is my intention to pro- 
pose it.” 

“ Dearest uncle ! this is so considerate in you, and will be 
so just ! May I ask what your intentions are ? ” 

“ I see no reason for keeping them a secret from you, Mabel, 
though nothing need be said to your father about them, for the 
sergeant has his prejudices, and might throw difficulties in the 
way. Neither Jasper, nor his friend Pathfinder, can ever make 
anything hereabouts, and I propose to take both with me down 
to the coasts, and get them fairly afloat. Jasper would find 
his sea-legs in a fortnight, and a twelvemonth’s v’y’ge would 
make him a man. Although Pathfinder might take more time, 
or never get to be rated able, yet one could make something of 
him too, particularly as a lookout, for he has unusually good 
eyes.” 

“Uncle, do you think either would consent to this ? ” said 
Mabel, smiling. 

“ Do I suppose them simpletons ? What rational being 
would neglect his own advancement.? Let Jasper alone to 
push his way, and the lad may yet die the master of some' 
square-rigged craft.” 

“ And would he be any the happier for it, dear uncle ? How 
much better is it to be the master of a square-rigged craft than 
to be master of a round-rigged craft ? ” 

“ Pooh-pooh, Magnet ! you are just fit to read lectures about 
ships before some hysterical society ; you don’t know what you 
are talking about ; leave these things to me, and they’ll be pro- 
perly managed. Ah ! here is the Pathfinder himself, and I may 
just as well drop hiin a hint of my benevolent intentions as 
regards himself. Hope is a great encourager of our exertions.” 

Cap nodded his head, and then ceased to speak, while the 
hunter approached, not with his usual frank and easy manner, 
but in a way to show that he was slightly embarrassed, if not 
distrustful of his reception. 

“ Uncle and niece make a family party,” said Pathfindei; 


THE PA THFINDER. 


157 

when near the two, “ and a stranger may rxOt prove a welcome 
companion.” 

“ You are no stranger, Master Pathfinder,” returned Cap, 
“ and no one can be more welcome than yourself. We were 
talking of you but a moment ago ; and when friends speak of 
an absent man, he can guess what they have said.” 

“ I ask no secrets — I ask no secrets. Every man has his 
enemies, and I have mine, though I count neither you. Master 
Cap, nor pretty Mabel, here, among the number. As for the 
Mingoes, I will say nothing ; though they have no just cause to 
hate me.” 

“ That I’ll answer for. Pathfinder, for you strike my fancy 
as being well disposed and upright. There is a method, how- 
ever, of getting away from the enmity of even these Mingoes, 
and, if you choose to take it, no one will more willingly point 
it out than myself, without a charge for my advice, either.” 

“ I wish no inemies. Salt-water ” — for so the Pathfinder 
begun to call Cap, having, insensibly to himself, adopted the 
term by translating the name given him by the Indians in and 
about the fort — “ I wish no inemies. I’m as ready to bury the 
hatchet with the Mingoes as with the French, though you know 
it depends on one greater than either of us to turn the heart as 
to leave a man without inemies.” 

“ By lifting your anchor and accompanying me down to the 
coasts, friend Pathfinder, when we get back from this short 
cruise on which we are bound, you will find yourself beyond 
the sound of the warwhoop, and safe enough from the Indian 
bullet.” 

“ And what should I do on the salt-water ? Hunt in your 
towns ! Follow the trail of people going and coming from 
market, and ambush dogs and poultry! You are no friend to 
my happiness. Cap, if you would lead me out of the shades of 
the woods to put me in the sun of the clearin’s ! ” 

“ I did not propose to leave you in the settlements. Path- 
finder, but to carry you out to sea, where only a man can be 
said to breathe freely. Mabel will tell you that such was my 
intention before a word was said on the subject.” 

“ And what does Mabel think would come of such a change ? 
She knows that a man has his gifts, and that it is as useless to 
pretend to others, as to withstand them that come from Prov- 
idence. I am a hunter, and a scout, or a guide. Salt-water, 
and it is not in me to fly so much in the face of Heaven as to 
try to become anything else. Am I right, Mabel, or are you 
so much of a woman as to wish to see a natur’ altered ? ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


I would wish to see no change in you, Pathfinder,” Mabel 
answered, with a cordial sincerity and frankness that went di* 
rectly to the hunter’s heart ; “ and much as my uncle admirea 
the sea, and great as is all the good that he thinks may come 
of it, I could not wish to see the best and noblest hunter of the 
woods transformed into an admiral. Remain what you are, 
my brave friend, and you need fear nothing short of the anger 
of God.” 

“ Do you hear this. Salt-water ? Do you hear what the 
sergeant’s daughter is saying ? And she is much too upright, 
and fair-minded, and pretty, not to think what she says. So 
long as she is satisfied with me as I am, I shall not fly in the 
face of the gifts of Providence by striving to become anything 
else. I may seem useless here, in a garrison, but when we get 
down among the Thousand Islands, there may be an opportunity 
to prove that a sure rifle is sometimes a Godsend.” 

“ You are then to be of our party ? ” said Mabel, smiling so 
frankly and so sweetly on the guide that he would have followed 
her to the end of the earth. “ I shall be the only female, with 
the exception of one soldier’s wife, and shall feel none the less 
secure. Pathfinder, because you will be among our protectors.” 

“ The sergeant would do that, Mabel, the sergeant would 
do that, though you were not of his kin. No one will overlook 
you. I should think your uncle, here, would like an expedition 
of this sort, where we shall go with sails, and have a look at an 
inlaj;id sea ? ” 

“Your inland sea is no great matter. Pathfinder, and I ex- 
pect nothing from it. I confess, however, I should like to 
know the object of the cruise, for one does not wish to be idle, 
and my brother-in-law, the sergeant, is as close-mouthed as a 
freemason. — -Do you know, Mabel, what all this means ? ” 

“ Not in the least, uncle. I dare not ask my father any 
questions about his duty, for he thinks it is not a woman’s 
business ; and all I can say is, that we are to sail as soon as 
y^ie wind will permit, and that we are to be absent a mouth.” 

\ “ Perhaps Master Pathfinder can give me a useful hint, 
co\ a v’y’ge without an object is never pleasant to an old 
saibr.” 

“ There is no great secret. Salt-water, concerning our port and 
object, though it is forbidden to talk much about either in the 
garrison. I am no soldier, however, and can use my tongue 
as I please, though as little given as another to idle conversa- 
tion, I hope ; still, as we sail so soon, and you are both to be 
of the party, you may as well be told where you are to be 


THE PATHFINDER, 


159 

carried. You know that there are such things as the Thousand 
Islands, I suppose, Master Cap ? ” 

“ Ay, what are so called hereaway, though I take it for 
granted that they are not real islands, such as we fall in with 
on the ocean ; and that the thousand means some such matter 
as two or three, like the killed and wounded of a great battle.” 

“ My eyes are good, yet I have often been foiled in trying 
to count them very islands.” 

“ Ay — ay — I’ve known people who couldn’t count beyond 
a certain number. Your real landbirds never know their own 
roosts, even in a landfall at sea ; they are what I call all things 
to all men. How many times have I seen the beach, and houses, 
and churches, when the passengers have not been able see any- 
thing but water ! I have no idea that a man can get fairly out 
of sight of land on fresh water. The thing appears to me to 
be irrational and impossible.” 

“You don’t know the lakes, Master Cap, or you would 
not say that. Before we get to the Thousand Islands, you will 
have other notions of what Natur’ has done in this wilderness.” 

“ I have my doubts whether you have such a thing as a real 
island in all this region. To my notion, fresh water can’t make 
a bony-fidy island ; not what / call an island. ” 

“ We’ll show you hundreds of them — not exactly a thousand, 
perhaps, but so many that eye cannot see them all, or tongue 
count them.” 

“ And what sort of things may they be ” 

“ Land with water entirely around them.” 

“ Ay, but what sort of land, and what sort of water ? I’ll 
engage, when the truth comes to be known, they’ll turn out to 
be nothing but peninsulas, or promontories, or continents ; 
though these are matters, I dare say, of which you know little 
or nothing. But islands or no islands, what is the object of the 
cruise. Master Pathfinder ? ” 

“ Why, as you are the sergeant’s orother, and pretty Mabel 
here is his da’hter, and we are all to be of the party, there can 
be no harm in giving you some idea of what we are going to 
do Being so old a sailor. Master Cap, you’ve heard, no doubt, 
of such a port as Frontenac ? ” 

“ Who hasn’t ? I will not sjry IVe ever been inside the 
harbor, but I’ve frequently been off the place.” 

“ Then you are about to go upon ground with which you 
are acquainted, though how you could ever have got there from 
the ocean I do not understand. These great lakes, you must 
know, make a chain, the water passing out of one into the other, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


£60 

until it reaches Erie, which is a sheet off here to the westward, 
as large as Ontario itself. Well, out of Erie the water comes, 
until it reaches a low, mountain-like, over the edge of which it 
passes ” 

“ I should like to know how the devil it can do that } ” 

“ Why, easy enough. Master Cap,” returned Pathfinder, 
laughing, “ seeing that it was only to fall downhill. Had I said 
the water went up the mountain, there would have been NatuP 
ag’in it ; but we hold it no great matter for water to run down 
hill — that fresh water.” 

“ Ay — ay — but you speak of the water of a lake’s coming 
down the side of a mountain ; it is in the teeth of reason, if 
reason has any teeth.” 

“ Well — well — we will not dispute the point ; but what Eve 
seen I’ve seen ; as for reason’s having any teeth. I’ll say nothing, 
but conscience has, and sharp ones, too. After getting into On- 
tario all the water of all the lakes passes down into the sea by a 
river and in the narrow part of the sheet, where it is neither river 
nor lake, lie the islands spoken of. Now, Frontenac is a 
post of the Frenchers above the same islands ; and as they 
hold the garrison below, their stores and ammunition are sent 
up the river to Frontenac to be forwarded along the shores of this 
and the other lakes, in order to enable the enemy to play his 
deviltries among the savages, and to take Christian scalps.” 

“ And will our presence prevent these horrible acts ? ” de- 
manded Mabel, with interest. 

“ It may or it may not, as Providence wills. Lundie, as they 
call him, he who commands this garrison, sent a party down to 
take a station among the islands, to cut off some of the French 
boats ; and this expedition of ours will be the second relief. 
As yet they’ve not done much, though two batteaux loaded 
with Indian goods have been taken ; but a runner came in 
last week, and brought such, tidings that the major is about to 
make a last effort to sarcumvent the knaves. Jasper knows 
the way, and we shall be in good hands, for the sergeant is pru- 
dent, and of the first quality at an ambushment — yes, he is both 
prudent, and alert.” 

“ Is this all ? ” said Cap, contemptuously — “ by the prep- 
arations and equipments, I had thought there was a forced 
trade in the wind, and that an honest penny might be turned, 
by taking an adventure. I suppose there are no shares in youJ 
fresh-water prize-money ? ” 

“ Anan ? ” 


THE PA THFiNDER. 


i6i 

• ** I take it for granted the king gets all in these so’gering 
parties and ambushments, as you call them ? ” 

I know nothing about that, Master Cap, I take my share 
of the lead and powder, if any falls into our hands, and say 
nothing to the king about it. If any one fares better it is not 
I — though it is time I did begin to think of a house and furni- 
ture and a home.” 

Although the Pathfinder did not dare to look at Mabel 
while he made this direct allusion to his change of life, he would 
have given the world to know whether she were listening, and 
what was the expression of her countenance. Mabel little sus- 
pected the nature of the allusion, however ; and her countenance 
was perfectly unembarrassed, as she turned her eyes toward 
the river, where the appearance of some movement on board 
the Scud began to be visible. 

“ Jasper is bringing the cutter out,” observed the guide, 
whose look was drawn in the same direction, by the fall of 
some heavy article on the deck. “ The lad sees the signs of 
wind, no doubt, and wishes to be ready for it.” 

“ Ay, and now we shall have an opportunity of learning 
seamanship,” returned Cap, with a sneer. “ There is a nicety 
in getting a craft under her canvas, that shows the thorouglv 
bred mariner as much as anything else. It’s like a so’ger button* 
ing his coat, and one can see whether he begins at the top or 
the bottom.” 

“ I will not say that Jasper is equal to your seafarers below,” 
observed Pathfinder, across whose upright mind an unworthy 
feeling of envy or jealousy never passed ; “ but he is a bold 
boy, and manages his cutter as skilfully as any man can desire 
on this lake at least. You didn’t find him backward at the Os- 
wego Falls, master Cap, where fresh-water contrives to tumble 
down-hill with little difficulty.” 

Cap made no other answer than a dissatisfied ejaculation, 
and then a general silence followed, all on the bastion studying 
the movements of the cutter with the interest that was natural 
to their own future connection with the vessel. It was still a 
dead calm, the surface of the lake literally glittering with the 
last rays of the sun. The Scud had been warped up to a kedge 
that lay a hundred yards above the points of the outlet, where 
she had room to manoeuvre in the river wFich then formed the 
harbor of Oswego. But the total want of air prevented any 
such attempt, and it was soon evident that the light vessel was 
to be taken through the passage under her sweeps. Not a sail 
was loosened but as soon as the kedge was tripped, the heavy 


1 62 


THE PATHFINDER. 


fall of the sweeps was heard, when the cutter, with her head up 
stream began to sheer toward the centre of the current ; on 
reaching which, the efforts of the men ceased, and she drifted 
toward the outlet. In the narrow pass itself her movement was 
rapid, and in less than five minutes the Scud was floating out' 
side of the low gravelly points that intercepted the waves of the 
lake. No anchor was let go, but the vessel continued to set off 
from the land, until her dark hull was seen resting on the glassy 
surface of the lake, fully a quarter of a mile beyond the low 
bluff which formed the eastern extremity of what might be called 
the outer harbor, or roadstead. Here the influence of the 
river-current ceased, and she became virtually stationary. 

“ She seems very beautiful to me, uncle,” said Mabel, whose 
gaze had not been averted from the cutter for a single moment 
while it had been thus changing its position ; “ I dare say you 
can find faults in her appearance, and in the way she is man- 
aged ; but to my ignorance both are perfect ! ” 

“ Ay — ay — she drops down with the current well enough, 
girl, and so would a chip. But when you come to niceties, an 
old tar like myself has no need of spectacles to find fault.” 

“ Well, Master Cap,” put in the guide, who seldom heard 
anything to Jasper’s prejudice without manifesting a disposi- 
tion to interfere, “ I’ve heard old and experienced salt-water 
mariners confess that the Scud is as pretty a craft as floats. 
I know nothing of such matters myself, but one may have his 
own notions about a ship, even though they be wrong notions ; 
and it would take more than one witness to persuade me Jas- 
per does not keep his bo^t in good order.” 

“ I do not say the cutter is downright lubberly. Master Path- 
finder; but she has faults, and great faults.” 

“And what are they, uncle? If he knew them, Jasper 
would be glad to mend them.” 

“ What are they ? Why, fifty ; ay, for that matter, a hundred. 
Very material and manifest faults.” 

“ Do name them, sir, and Pathfinder will mention them to 
his friend.” 

“Name them? It is no easy matter to call off the stars 
for the simple reason that they are so numerous. Name them, 
indeed ! Why, my pretty niece. Miss Magnet, what do you 
think of that main-boom now ? To my ignorant eyes, it is 
topped at least a foot too high ; and then the pennant is foul • 
and — and — ay, d — e, if there isn’t a topsail gaskit adrift — and it 
wouldn’t surprise me at all if there should prove to be a round 
turn in that hawser, if the kedge were to be let go this instant' 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


163 

Faults indeed ! No seaman could look at her a moment, with- 
out seeing that she is as full of faults as a servant that has asked 
for his discharge.” 

“ This may be very true, uncle, though I much question if 
Jasper knows of them. I do not think he would suffer these 
things. Pathfinder, if they were pointed out to him.” 

“Let Jasper manage his own cutter, Mabel ; let him man- 
age his own cutter. His gifts lie that-away, and. I’ll answer for 
it, no one can teach him how to keep the Scud out of the hands 
of the Frontenackers or their devilish Mingo fri’nds. Who cares 
for round turns in hedges, and for hawsers that are topped too 
high, Master Cap, so long as the craft sails well, and keeps 
clear of the Frenchers ? I will trust Jasper against all the sea- 
farers of the coast up here on the lakes — but I do not say he 
has any gift for the ocean, for there he has never been tried.” 

Cap smiled condescendingly, but he did not think it neces^ 
sary to push his criticisms any further just at that moment. His 
air and manner gradually became more supercilious and lofty, 
though he now wished to seem indifferent to any discussions on 
points of which one of the parties was entirely ignorant. By 
this time the cutter had begun to drift at the mercy of the cur- 
rents of the lake, her head turning in all directions, though 
slowly, and not in a way to attract particular attention. Just 
at this moment the jib was loosened and hoisted, and presently 
the canvas swelled toward the land, though no evidence of air 
were yet to be seen on the surface of the water. Slight, how- 
ever, as was the impulsion, the light hull yielded, and in another 
minute the Scud was seen standing across the current of the 
river, with a movement so easy and moderate as to be scarcely 
perceptible. When out of the stream, she struck an eddy, and 
shot up toward the land, under the eminence where the fort 
stood, when Jasper dropped his kedge. 

“ Not lubberly done — ” muttered Cap, in a sort of soliloquy, 
“ not over-lubberly, though he should have put his helm a-star- 
board instead of a-port, for the vessel ought always to come-to 
with her head off-shore, whether she is a league from the land 
or only a cable’s length, since it has a careful look ; and looks 
are something in this world.” 

“Jasper is a handy lad,” suddenly observed Sergeant 
Dunham, at his brother-in-law’s elbow ; “ and we place great 
reliance on his skill in our expeditions. But come, one and 
all ; we have but half an hour more of daylight to embark in, 
and the boats will be ready for us by the time we are * ladv £ot 
them.” 


164 


THE PA THFINDER. 


On this intimation the whole party separated each to find 
those trifles which had not been shipped already. A few taps 
of the drum gave the necessary signal to the soldiers, and in a 
minute all were in motion. 


CHAPTER XIII. 


** The goblin now the fool alarms, 

Hags meet to mumble o’er their charms, 

The nightmare rides the dreaming ass, 

And fairies trip it on the grass.” 

—Cotton. 

The embarkation of so small a party was a matter of no 
great delay and embarrassment. The whole force confided to 
the care of Sergeant Dunham consisted of but ten privates and 
two non-commissioned officers, though it was soon positively 
known that Mr. Muir was to accompany the expedition. The 
quartermaster, however, went as a volunteer, while some duty 
connected with his own department, as had been arranged be- 
tween him and his commander, was the avowed object. To 
these must be added the Pathfinder and Cap, with Jasper and 
his subordinates, one of whom was a boy. The males of the 
entire party, consequently, consisted of less than twenty men, 
and a lad of fourteen. Mabel and the wife of a common soldier 
were the only females. 

Sergeant Dunham carried off his command in a large bat- 
teau, and then returned for his final orders, and to see that his 
brother-in-law and daughter were properly attended to. Having 
pointed out to Cap the boat that he and Mabel were to use, he 
ascended the hill, to seek his last interview with Lundie. The 
major was on the bastion so often mentioned ; leaving him and 
the sergeant together for a short time, we will return to the 
beach. 

It was nearly dark when Mabel found herself in the boat 
that was to carry her off to the cutter. So very smooth was the 
surface of the lake, that it was not found necessary to biing the 
batteaux into the river to receive their freights, but the beach 
outside being totally without surf, and the water as tranquil as 
that 01 a pond, everybody embarked there. As Cap had said, 
there was no heaving and setting, no working of vast lungs, not 
any respiration of an ocean ; for, on Ontario, unlike the Atlap- 


THE PATHFINDER, 


165 

tic, gales were not agitating the element at one point, while 
calms prevailed at another. This the distances did not permit; 
and it is the *usual remark of mariners that the sea gets up 
faster and goes down sooner, on all the great lakes of the West, 
than on the different seas of their acquaintance. When the 
boat left the land, therefore, Mabel would not have known that 
she was afloat on so broad a sheet of water, by any movement 
that is usual to such circumstances. The oars had barely time 
io give a dozen strokes, when the boat lay at the cutter’s side. 

Jasper was in readiness to receive his passengers, and, as 
the deck of the Scud was but two or three feet above the water, 
no difficulty was experienced in getting on board her. As soon 
as this was effected, the young man pointed out to Mabel and 
her companion the accommodations prepared for their recep- 
tion, and they took possession of them. The little vessel con- 
tained four apartments below, all between decks having been 
expressly constructed with a view to the transportation of 
officers and men, with their wives and families. First in rank 
was what was called the after-cabin, a small apartment that 
contained four berths, and which enjoyed the advantage of 
possessing small windows, for the admission of air and light. 
This was uniformly devoted to females, whenever any were on 
board ; and, as Mabel and her companion were alone, they had 
ample space and accommodation. The main-cabin was larger, 
and lighted from above. It was now appropriated to the uses 
of the quartermaster, the sergeant, Cap, and Jasper ; the Path- 
finder roaming through any part of the cutter he pleased, the 
female apartment excepted. The corporals and common sol- 
diers occupied the space between the main-hatch, which had a 
deck for such a purpose ; while the crew were berthed, as usual, 
in the forecastle. Although the cutter did not measure quite 
fifty tons, the draft of officers and men was so light that there 
was ample room for all on board, there being space enough to 
a:commodate treble the number if necessary. 

As soon as Mabel had taken possession of her own really 
comfortable and pretty cabin, in doing which she could not 
abstain from indulging in the pleasant reflection that some of 
Jasper’s favor had been especially manifested in her behalf, she 
went on deck again. Here all was momentarily in motion ; 
the men were roving to and fro, in quest of their knapsacks and 
other effects ; but method and habit soon reduced things to or- 
der, when the stillness on board became even imposing, for 
was connected with the idea of future adventure and ominous 
preparation. 


i66 


THE PA THFINDER. 


Darkness was now beginning to render objects on shore 
indistinct, the whole of the land forming one shapeless, black 
outline of even forest-summits, that was to be distinguished 
from the impending heavens only by the greater light of the 
sky. The stars, however, soon began to appear in the latter, 
one after another, in their usual mild, placid lustre, bringing 
with them that sense of quiet whicn ordinarily accompanies 
night. There was something soothing as weli. as exciting in 
such a scene and Maoei, who was seated on the ouarter-deck, 
sensibly feit noth influences. The Pathfinder was standing 
near her, leaning, as usuax, on his long rifle, and she fancied 
that, througn the growing darkness of the hour, she could trace 
even stronger lines of thought than were usual in his rugged 
countenance. 

“ To you. Pathfinder, expeditions like this can be no great 
novelty,” she said, “ though I am surprised to find how silent 
and thoughtful the men appear to be.” 

“ We Tarn this, by making war ag’in Injuns. Your militia 
are great talkers and little doers, in gin’ral ; but the soger who 
has often met the Mingoes, I’arns to know the valie of a prudent 
tongue. A silent army, in the woods, is doubly strong, and a 
noisy one, doubly weak. If tongues made soldiers, the women 
of a camp would generally carry the day.” 

“ But we are neither an army nor in the woods; There can 
be no danger of Mingoes in the Scud.” 

“ Ask Jasper how he got to be master of this cutter, and 
you will find yourself answered as to that opinion ! No one is 
safe from a Mingo who doesn’t understand his very natur’ : and 
even then he must act up to his own knowledge, and that 
closely. Ask Jasper how he got command of this very 
cutter ! ” 

“ And how did he. get the command } ” inquired Mabel, with 
an earnestness and interest that delighted her simple-minded 
and true-hearted companion, who was never better pleased than 
when he had an opportunity of saying aught in favor of a friend. 
“ It is honorable to him that he has reached this station while 
yet so young.” 

“ That it is — but he deserved it all, and more. A frigate 
wouldn’t have been too much to pay for so much spirit and 
coolness, had there been such a thing on Ontario, as there is 
not, howsever, or likely to be.” 

“But Jasper — you have not yet told me how he got the 
command of the schooner ? ” 

“ It is a long story, Mabel, and one your father, the ser 


TEE PA THFINDER. 



geant, can tell much better than I, for he was present, wliile I 
was off on a distant scoutin’. Jasper is not good at a story, I 
will own that ; I’ve heard him questioned about this affair, and 
he never made a good tale of it, although everybody knows it 
was a good thing. No — no — Jasper is not good at a story, as 
his best friends must own. The Scud had near fallen into the 
hands of the French and the Mingoeswhen Jasper saved her, 
in a way that none but a quick-witted mind and a bold heart 
would have attempted. The sergeant will tell the tale better 
than I can, and I wish you to question him some day when 
nothing better offers. As for Jasper himself, there will be no 
use in worrying the lad, since he will make a bungling matter 
of it, for he don’t know how to give a history at all.” 

Mabel determined to ask her father to repeat the incidents 
of the affair that very night, for it struck her young fancy that 
nothing better could well offer than to listen to the praises of 
one who was a bad historian of his own exploits. 

Will the Scud remain with us when we reach the island ? 
she asked, after a little hesitation about the propriety of the 
question, “ or shall we be left to ourselves ? ” 

“ That’s as may be. Jasper does not often keep the cutter 
idle when anything is to be done, and we may expect activity 
on his part. My gifts, howsever, run so little toward the water, 
and vessels gin’rally, unless it be among rapids and falls, and 
in canoes, that I pretend to know nothing about it. We shall 
have all right under Jasper, I make no doubt, who can find a 
trail on Ontario as well as a Delaware can find one on the land.” 

“ And our own Delaware, Pathfinder — the Big Serpent — > 
why is he not with us to-night ? ” 

“ Your question would have been more nat’ral had you said, 
why are jyou here. Pathfinder ? — The Sarpent is in his place, 
while I am not in mine. He is out with two or three more 
scouting the lake-shores, and will join us down among the 
islands with the tidings he may gather. The sergeant is too 
good a soldier to forget his rear while he is facing the inemy in 
front ! It’s a thousand pities, Mabel, your father wasn’t born a 
gin’ral, as some of the English are who come among us, for I 
feel sartain he wouldn’t leave a Frencher in the Canadas a week 
could he have his own way with them.” 

“ Shall we have enemies to face in front ? ” asked Mabel, 
smiling, and for the first time feeling a slight apprehension 
about the dangers of the expedition. “ Are we likely to have 
an engagement ? ” 

“If we have, Mabel, there will be men enough ready and 


THE PATHFINDER, 


willing to stand atvveen you and harm. But you are a soldier’s 
daughter, and we all know have the spirit of one. Don^t let 
the fear of battle keep your pretty eye from sleeping.” 

“ I do feel braver out here in the woods, Pathfinder, than 1 
ever felt before amid the weaknesses of the towns, although 1 
have always tried to remember what I owe to my dear father ” 

“ Ay, your mother was so before you ! ‘You will find Mabel, 
like her mother, no screamer or a faint-hearted girl to trouble a 
man in his need, but one who would encourage her mate, and 
help to keep his heart up when sorest pressed by danger,’ said 
the sergeant to me, before I ever laid eyes on that beautiful 
countenance of yours — he did ! ” 

“ And why should my father have told you this. Pathfinder ? ” 
the girl demanded, a little earnestly. “ Perhaps he fancied 
you would think the better of me, if you did not believe me a 
silly coward, as so many of my sex love to make themselves 
appear.” 

Deception, unless it were at the expense of his enemies in 
the field — nay, concealment of even a thought — was so little in 
accordance with the Pathfinder’s very nature, that he was not a 
little embarrassed by this simple question. To own the truth 
openl}'-, he felt, by a sort of instinct for which it would have 
puzzled him to account, would not be proper ; and to hide it, 
agreed with neither his sense of right nor his habits. In such 
a strait, he involuntarily took refuge in a middle course, not re- 
vealing that which he fancied ought not to be told, nor yet ab- 
solutely concealing it. 

“ You must know, Mabel,” he said, “ that the sergeant and 
I are old friends, and have stood side by side — or, if not ac 
tually side by side, I a little in advance, as became a scout, and 
your father with his own men, as better suited a soldier of the 
king — on many a hard-fought and bloody day. It’s the way of 
us skirmishers to think little of the fight when the rifle has done 
cracking , and at night, around our fires, or on our marches, 
we talk of things we love, just as you young women converse 
about your fancies and opinions, when you get together to laugh 
over your idees. Now it was natural that the sergeant, having 
such a daughter as you, should love her better than anything 
else, and that he should talk of her oftener that anything else 
i — while I have neither daughter, nor sister, nor mother, nor 
kith nor kin, nor anything but the Delawares to love, I naturally 
chim^ed in, as it were, and got to love you, Mabel, before I ever 
saw you — yes I did — just by talking about you so much.” 

“ And now you have seen me,” returned the smiling girl, 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


169 

whose unmoved and natural manner proved how little she was 
thinking of anything more than parental or fraternal regard, 
“ you are beginning to see the folly of forming friendships for 
people before you know anything about them, except by hear- 
say.” 

“ It wasn’t friendship — it isn’t friendship, Mabel, that I feel 
for you. I aili the friend of the Delawares, and have been so 
from boyhood : but my feelings for them, or for the best of 
them, are not the same as them I got from the sergeant for you ; 
and especially now that I begin to know you better. I’m some- 
times afear’d it isn’t wholesome for one who is much occupied 
in a very manly calling, like that of a guide, or a scout, or a 
soldier even, to form friendships for women — young women in 
particular — as they seem to me to lessen the love of enterprise, 
and to turn the feelings away from their gifts and natural occm 
pations.” 

“You surely do not mean, Pathfinder, that a friendship foi 
a girl like me would make you less bold, and more unwilling to 
meet the French, than you were before ? ” 

“ Not so — not so. With you in danger, for instance, I fear 
I might become foolhardy ; but before we became so intimate, 
as I may say, I loved to think of my scoutin’s, and of my 
marches, and outlyings, and fights, and other adventures ; but 
now my mind cares less about them ; I think more of the bar- 
racks and of evenings passed in discourse, of feelin’s in which 
there are no wranglings and bloodshed, and of young women, 
and of their laughs, and their cheerful soft voices, their pleasant 
looks, and their winning ways ! I sometimes tell the sergeant 
that he and his daughter will be the spoiling of one of the best 
and most experienced scouts on the lines ! ” 

“ Not they. Pathfinder ; they will try to make that which is 
already so excellent, perfect. You do not know us, if you think 
that either wishes to see you in the least changed. Remain, as 
at present, the same honest, upright, conscientious, fearless, in- 
telligent, trustworthy guide, that you are, and neither my deaf 
father nor myself can ever think of you differently from what 
* we do now.” 

It was too dark for Mabel to note the workings of the coun- 
tenance of her listener, but her own sweet face was turned to- 
ward him, as she spoke with an energy equal to her frankness, 
in a way to show how little embarrassed were her thoughts, and 
how sincere were her words. Her countenance was a little 
flushed it is true, but it was with earnestness and truth of feel- 
ing ; though no nerve thrilled, no limbs trembled, no pulsation 


THE PATHFINDER, 


170 

quickened. In short, her manner and appearance were those 
of a sincere-minded and frank girl, making such a declaration 
or good-will and regard for one of the other sex as she felt that 
his services and good qualities merited, without any of the emo* 
tion that invariably accompanies the consciousness of an inclina* 
tion which might lead to softer disclosures. 

The Pathfinder was too unpractised, however, to enter into 
distinctions of this kind, and his humble nature was encouraged 
by the directness and strength of the words he had just heard 
Unwilling, if not unable, to say any more, he walked away, and 
stood leaning on his rifle, and looking up at the stars, for quite 
ten minutes, in profound silence. 

In the meanwhile, the interview on the bastion, to which 
we have already alluded, took place between Lundie and the 
sergeant. 

“ Have the men’s knapsacks been examined ? ” demanded 
Major Duncan, after he had cast his eye at a written report, 
handed to him by the sergeant, but which it was too dark to 
read. 

“ All, your honor ; and all are right.’'’ 

“ The ammunition — arms ? ” 

“ All in order. Major Duncan, and fit for any service.” 

“ You have the men named in my own draft, Dunham } ” 

“ Without an exception, sir. Better men could not be found 
in the regiment.” 

“ You have need of the best of our men, sergeant. This 
experiment has now been tried three times ; always under one 
of the ensigns, who have flattered me with success, but have as 
often failed. After so much preparation and expense, I do not 
like to abandon the project entirely ; but this will be the last 
effort, and the result will mainly depend on you and on the 
Pathfinder.” 

“ You may count on us both. Major Duncan. The duty you 
have given us is not above our habits and experience, and I 
think, it will be well done. I know that the Pathfinder will not 
be wanting.’’ 

“ On tha;, indeed, it will be safe to rely. He is a most ex 
traordinary man, Dunham — one who long puzzled me ; but who, 
now that I understand him, commands as much of my respect 
as any general in his majesty’s service.” 

“ I was in hopes, ^ir, that you would come to look at the 
proposed marriage with Mabel as a thing that I ought to wish 
and forward.” 

“ As for that, sergeant, time will show*” returned Imndie, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


17 ^ 

smiling ; though here, too, the obscurity concealed the nicer 
shades of expression — “ one woman is sometimes more difficult 
to manage than a whole regiment of men. By-the-way, you 
know that your would-be son-in-law, the quartermaster, will be 
of the party ; and I trust you will at least give him an equal 
chance in the trial for your daughter’s smiles.” 

“ If respect for his rank, sir, did not cause me to do this, 
your honor’s wish would be sufficient.” 

“ I thank you, sergeant. We have served much together, 
and ought to value each other in our several stations. Under- 
stand me, however : I ask no more for Davy Muir than a clear 
field and no favor. In love as in war, each man must gain his 
own victories. Are you certain that the rations have been 
carefully calculated ? ” 

“ I’ll answer for it. Major Duncan ; but, if they were not, 
we cannot suffer with two such hunters as Pathfinder and the 
Serpent in company.” 

“ That will never do, Dunham,” interrupted Lundie, sharply, 
‘‘ and it comes of your American birth and American training ! 
No thorough soldier ever relies on anything but his commissary 
for supplies ; and I beg no part of my regiment may be the first 
to set an example to the contrary.” 

“ You only have to command. Major Duncan, to be obeyed - 
and yet, if I might presume, sir ” 

“ Speak freely, sergeant ; you are talking with a friend.” 

“ I was merely about to say that I find even the Scotch 
soldiers like venison and birds quite as well as pork, when they 
are difficult to be had.” 

“ That may be very true ; but likes and dislikes have 
nothing to do with system. An army can rely ott nothing but 
its commissaries. The irregularity of the provincials has played 
the devil with the king’s service too long to be winked at any 
longer.” 

“ General Braddock, your honor, might have been advised 
by Colonel Washington.” 

“ Out upon your Washington ! You’re as provincials to 
gether, man, and uphold each other as if you were of a sworn 
confederacy.” 

“ I believe his majesty has no more loyal subjects than the 
Americans, your honor.” 

“ In that, Dunham, I’m thinking you’re right ; and I have 
been a Uttle too warm, perhaps. I do not consider you a pro- 
vincial, however, sergeant ; for, though born in America, a 
better soldier never shouldered a musket.” 


X72 


THE PATHFINDER. 


“ And Colonel Washington, your honor ” 

“ Well : and Colonel Washington may be a useful subject, 
too. He is the American prodigy; and I suppose 1 may as 
well give him all the credit you ask. You have no doubt oi 
the skill of this Jasper Eau-clouce 

“ The boy has been tried, sir, and found equal to all that 
ran be required of him.” 

“ He has a French name, and has passed much of his boy 
hood in the French colonies — has he French blood in his veinSj 
sergeant ? ” 

“Not a drop, your honor. Jasper’s father was an old coim 
rade of my own, and his mother came of an honest and loyal 
family, in this very province.” 

“ How came he, then, so much among the French, and 
whence his name ? He speaks the language of the Canadas, 
too, I find.” 

“ That is easily explained. Major Duncan. The boy was 
left under the care of one of our mariners in the old war, and 
he took to the water like a duck. Your honor knows that we 
have no ports on Ontario, that can be named as such, and he 
naturally passed most of his time on the other side of the lake, 
where the French have had a few vessels these fifty years. He 
learned to speak their language, as a matter of course, and got 
Ms name from the Indians and Canadians, who are fond of 
calling men by their qualities, as it might be.” 

“ A French master is but a poor instructor for a British 
■soldier, notwithstanding.” 

“I beg your pardon, sir; Jasper Eau-douce was brought 
up under a real English seaman; one that had sailed under the 
king’s pennant, and may be called a thorough-bred ; that is to 
say, a subject born in the colonies, but none the worse at his 
trade, I hope. Major Duncan, for that.” 

“ Perhaps not, sergeant — perhaps not ; nor any better. 
Phis Jasper behaved well, too, when I gave him the command 
of the Scud ; no lad could have conducted himself more loyally 
or better.” 

“ Or more bravely. Major Duncan. I am sorry to see, sir, 
chat you have doubts as to the fidelity of Jasper.” 

“ It is the duty of the soldier who is intrusted with the care 
of a distant and important post like this, Dunham, never to 
relax in his vigilance. We have two of the most artful enemies 
that the world lias ever produced, in their several ways, to con- 
tend with — the Indians and the French, and nothing should b? 
overlooked that can lead to injury,” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


173 

“ I hope your honor considers me fit to be intrusted with 
any particular reason that may exist for doubting Jasper, since 
you have seen fit to intrust me with the command.’^ 

“ It is not that I doubt you, Dunham, that I hesitate to 
reveal all I may happen to know, but from a strong reluctance 
to circulate an evil report concerning one of whom I have 
hitherto thought well. You must think well of the Pathfinder, 
or you would not wish to give him your daughter ? ” 

“ For the Pathfinder’s honesty, I will answer with my life, 
sir ” — returned the sergeant firmly, and not without a dignity 
of manner that struck his superior. “ Such a man doesn’t 
know how to be false.” 

“ I believe you are right, Dunham, and yet this last in- 
formation has unsettled all my old opinions. I have received 
an anonymous communication, sergeant, advising me to be on 
my guard against Jasper Western, or Jasper Eau-douce, as he 
is called ; who, it alleges, has been bought by the enemy, and 
giving me reason to expect that further and more precise in- 
formation will soon be sent.” 

“ Letters without signatures to them, sir, are scarcely to be 
regarded in war.” 

“Or in peace, Dunham. No one can entertain a lower 
opinion of the writer of an anonymous letter, in ordinary 
matters, than myself. The very act denotes cowardice, mean 
ness, and baseness ; and it usually is a token of falsehood, as 
well as of other vices. But, in matters of war, it is not exactly 
the same thing. Besides, several suspicious circumstances 

have been pointed out to me ” 

“ Such as is fit for an orderly to hear, your honor ? ” 

“ Certainly, one in whom I confide as much as in yourself, 
Dunham. It is said, for instance, that your daughter and her 
party were permitted to escape the Iroquois, when they came 
in, merely to give Jasper credit with me. I am told that the 
gentry at Frontenac will care more for the capture of the Scud, 
with Sergeant Dunham and a party of men, together with the 
defeat of our favorite plan, than for the capture of a girl, and 
the scalp of her uncle.” 

“ I understand the hint, sir, but I do not give it credit. 
Jasper can hardly be true, and Pathfinder false ; and as for the 
last, I would as soon distrust your honor as distrust him ! ” 

“ It would seem so, sergeant : it would indeed seem sc. 
But Jasper is not the Pathfinder, after all, and I will own, Dun- 
ham, I should put more faith in the lad if he didn’t speak 
French ! 


174 


THE PA THFINDER, 


no recommendation in my eyes, I assure your honor ^ 
but the boy learned it by compulsion, as it were, and ought not 
to be condemned too hastily for the circumstance, by your 
honor’s leave. If he does speak French, it’s because he can’t 
well help it.” 

“ It’s a d d lingo, and never did any one good — at least 

no British subject ; for I suppose the French themselves must 
talk together in some language or other. I should have much 
more faith in this Jasper did he know nothing of their language. 
This letter has made me uneasy ; and, were there another to 
whom I could trust the cutter, I would devise some means to 
detain him here. I have spoken tp you. already of a brother- 
in-law who goes with you, sergeant, and who is a sailor ” 

real seafaring man, your honor, and somewhat prej- 
udiced against fresh water. I doubt if he could be induced to 
risk his character on a lake, and I’m certain he never could 
find the station.” 

“ The last is probably true, andthen, the man cannot know 
enough of this treacherous lake to be fit for the employment. 
You will have to be doubly vigilant, Dunham. I give you full 
powers, and, should you detect this Jasper in any treachery, 
make him a sacrifice at once to offended justice.” 

“ Being in the service of the crown, your honor, he is amen- 
able to martial law ” 

“ Very true — then iron him, from his head to his heels, and 
send him up here, in his own cutter. That brother-in-law of 
yours must be able to find the way back, after he has once 
travelled to the road.” 

“ I make no doubt. Major Duncan, we shall be able to do 
all that will be necessary, should Jasper turn out as you seem 
to anticipate ; though I think I would risk my life on his 
truth.” 

“ I like your confidence ; it speaks well for the fellow — but 
that infernal letter ! There is such an air of truth about it — ■ 
nay, there is so much truth in it, touching other matters ” 

“ I think your honor said it wanted the name at the bottom ; 
a great omission for an honest man to make.” 

“ Quite right, Dunham, and no one but a rascal, and a 
cowardly rascal into the bargain, would write an anonymous 
letter on private affairs. It is different, however, in war. Des- 
patches are feigned, and artifice is generally allowed to be 
justifiable.” 

“ Military, manly artifices, sir, if you will ; such as am- 
bushes, surprises, feints, false attacks, and even spies • but } 


THE PATHFINDER. 


*75 

never heard of a true soldier who could wish to undermine the 
character of an honest young man, by such means as these ! 

“ I have met with many strange events, and some stranger 
people, in the course of my experience. But fare-you-well, ser- 
geant ; I must detain you no longer. You are now on your 
guard, and I recommend to you untiring vigilance. I think 
Muir means shortly to retire, and, should you fully succeed in 
this enterprise, my influence will not be wanting in endeavor- 
ing to put you into the vacancy, to which you have many 
claims ! ” 

“ I humbly thank your honor,” coolly returned the sergeant, 
who had been encouraged in this manner any time for the 
preceding twenty years, “ and hope I shall never disgrace my 
station, whatever it may be. I am what Nature and Provi- 
dence have made me, and I hope Pm satisfied.” 

“ You have not forgotten the howitzer ? ” 

“Jasper took it on board this morning, sir.” 

“ Be wary, and do not trust that man unnecessarily. Make 
a confidant of Pathfinder at once ; he may be of service in 
detecting any villainy that may be stirring. His simple honesty 
will favor his observation, by concealing it. ^must be true.” 

“ For him, sir, my own head shall answer, or even my rank 
in the regiment. I have seen him too often tried to doubt 
him.” 

“ Of all wretched sensations, Dunham, distrust, where one 
is compelled to confide, is the most painful. You have be- 
thought you of the spare flints } ” 

“ A sergeant is a safe commander for all such details, your 
honor.” 

“ Well, then, give me your hand, Dunham, God bless you, 
and may you be successful. Muir means to retire — by the way, 
let the man have an equal chance with your daughter, for it 
may facilitate future operations about the promotion. One 
would retire more cheerfully with such a companion as Mabel, 
/ than in cheerless widowhood, and with nothing but one’s self 
to love, and such a self, too, as Davy’s ! ” 

“ I hope, sir, my child will make a prudent choice, and I 
think her mind is already pretty much, made up in favor of 
Pathfinder. Still she shall have fair play, though disobedience 
is the next crime to mutiny.” 

“ Have all the ammunition carefully examined and dried, 
as soon as you arrive ; the damp of the lake may affect it ; and 
now, once more, farewell, sergeant. Beware of that Jasper, 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


176 

and consult with Muir in any difficulty. I shall expect you ta 
return triumphant, this day month.” 

“ God bless your honor ! If anything should happen to me^ 
I trust to you, Major Duncan, to care for an old soldier’s 
character.” 

“ Rely on me, Dunham — you will rely on a friend. Be 
vigilant ; remember you will be in the very jaws of the lion — 
pshaw ! of no lion, neither ; but of treacherous tigers — in their 
very jaws, and beyond support. Have the flints counted and 
examined in the morning — and — farewell, Dunham, farewell ! ” 

The sergeant took the extended hand of his superior with 
proper respect, and they finally parted ; Lundie hastening into 
his own movable abode, while the other left the fort, descended 
to the beach, and got into a boat. 

Duncan of Lundie had said no more than the truth, when 
he spoke of the painful nature of distrust. Of all the feelings of 
the human mind, it is that which is the most treacherous in its 
workings, the most insidious in its approaches, and the least 
at the command of a generous temperament. While doubt 
exists, everything may be suspected, the thoughts having no 
definite facts to set bounds to their wanderings ; and, distrust 
once admitted, it is impossible to say to what extent conjecture 
may lead, or whither credulity may follow. That which had 
previously seemed innocent, assumes the hue of guilt, as soon 
as this uneasy tenant has taken possession of the thoughts ; 
and nothing is said or done without being subjected to the 
colorings and disfigurations of jealously and apprehension. If 
this is true in ordinary affairs, it is doubly true when any heavy 
responsibility, involving life or death, weighs on the unsettled 
mind of its subject ; as in the case of the military commander, 
or the agent in the management of any great political interest. 
It is not to be supposed, then, that Sergeant Dunham, after he 
had parted from his commanding officer, was likely to forget 
the injunctions he had received. He thought highly of Jasper, 
in general ; but distrust had been insinuated between his for- 
mer confidence and the obligations of duty; and, as he now 
felt that everything depended on his own vigilance by the time 
the boat reached the side of the Scud, he was in a proper humor 
to let no suspicious circumstances go unheeded, or any unusual 
movement in the young sailor pass without its comment. As a 
matter of course, he viewed things in the light suited to his 
peculiar mood ; and his precautions, as well as his distrust, 
partook of the habits, opinions, and education of the man. 

The Scud’s kedge was lifted as soon as the boat, with thtf 


THE TATHFINDEn, 


177 


sergeant, who was the last person expected, was seen to quit tha 
shore, and the head of the cutter was cast to the eastward by 
means of the sweeps. A few vigorous strokes of the latter, in 
which the soldiers aided, sent the light craft into the line of 
the current, that flowed from the river, when she was suffered 
to drift into the offing again. As yet, there was no wind, the 
light and almost imperceptible air from the lake, that had 
existed previously to the setting of the sun, having entirely 
failed. 

All this time an unusual quiet prevailed in the cutter. It 
appeared as if those on board of her felt that they were enter* 
ing upon an uncertain enterprise, in the obscurity of night j 
and that their duty, the hour, and the manner of their departure, 
lent a solemnity to their movements. Discipline also came in 
aid of these feelings. Most were silent ; and those who said 
anything, spoke seldom and in low voices. In this manner, 
the cutter set slowly out into the lake, until she had got as far 
as the river-current would carry her, when she became station* 
ary, waiting for the usual land-breeze. An interval of half an 
hour followed, during the whole of which time the Scud lay as 
motionless as a log, floating on the water. While the little 
changes just mentioned were occurring in the situation of the 
vessel, notwithstanding the general quiet that prevailed, all 
conversation had not been suppressed ; for Sergeant Dunham, 
having first ascertained that both his daughter and her female 
companion were on the quarter-deck, led the Pathfinder to the 
after-cabin, where, closing the door with great caution, and 
otherwise making certain he was beyond the reach of eaves- 
droppers, he commenced as follows : 

“ It is now many years, my friend, since you began to 
experience the hardships and dangers of the woods in my 
company.” 

“ It is, sergeant ; yes, it is. I sometimes fear I am too old 
for Mabel, who was not born until you and I had fou’t the 
Frenchers, as comrades.” 

No fear on that account, Pathfinder. I was near your 
age before I prevailed on the mind of her mother; and Mabel 
is a steady, thoughtful girl, one that will regard character 
more than anything else. A lad like Jasper Eau-douce, fot 
instance, will have no chance with her, though he is both young 
and comely.” 

“Does Jasper think of marrying?” inquired the guide, 
simply but earnestly. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


178 

“ I should hope not — at least not until he has satisfied 
every one of his fitness to possess a wife.’^ 

“Jasper is a gallant boy, and one of great gifts in his way; 
he may claim a wife as well as another.” 

“ To be frank with you, Pathfinder, I brought you here to 
talk about this very youngster. Major Duncan has received 
some information which has led him to suspect that Eau-douce 
is false, and in the pay of the enemy ; I wish to hear youi 
opinion on the subject.” 

“Anan!” 

“I say that the major suspects Jasper of being a traitor — a 
French spy — or, what is worse, of being bought to betray us. 
He has received a letter to this effect, and has been charging 
me to keep an eye on the boy’s movements, for he fears we 
shall meet with enemies when we least expect it, and by his 
means.” 

“ Duncan of Lundie has told you this, Sergeant Dunham ? ” 

“ He has, indeed. Pathfinder ; and, though I have been 
loath to believe anything to the injury of Jasper, I have a 
feeling which tells me I ought to distrust him. Do you believe 
in presentiments, my friend ? ” 

“ In what, sergeant ? ” 

“ Presentiments— a sort of secret foreknowledge of events 
that are about to happen. The Scotch of our regiment are 
great sticklers for such things; and my opinion of Jasper is 
changing so fast that I begin to fear there must be some truth 
in their doctrines.” 

“ But you’ve been talking with Duncan of Lundie consarn- 
ing Jasper, and his words have raised misgivin’s.” 

“ Not it — not so in the least. For while conversing with 
the major, my feelings were altogether the other way ; and I 
endeavored to convince him all I could that he did the boy in- 
justice. But there is no use holding out against a presenti- 
ment, I find ; and I fear there is something in the suspicion, 
after all.” 

“ I know nothing of presentiments, sergeant, but I have 
known Jasper Eau-douce since he was a boy, and I have as 
much faith in his honesty as I have in my own, or that of the 
Sarpent himself.” 

“ But the Serpent, Pathfinder, has his tricks and ambushes 
in war, as well as another.” 

“ Ay, them are his nat’ral gifts, and such as belong to his 
people. Neither redskin nor paleface can deny natur’; but 
Chingachgook is not the man to feel a presentiment ag’in.” 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


179 

That I believe ; nor should I have thought ill of ] aspei 
this very morning. It seems to me, Pathfinder, since I’ve 
taken up this presentiment, that the lad does not bustle about 
his deck, naturally, as he used to do, but that he is silent and 
moody, and thoughtful, like a man who has a load on his con- 
science.” 

“Jasper is never noisy, and he tells me noisy ships are 
generally ill-worked ships. Master Cap agrees in this, too. No 
— no — I will believe naught against Jasper until I see it. Send 
for your brother, sergeant, and let us question him in this 
matter ; for to sleep with distrust on one’s fri’nd in the heart, 
is like sleeping with lead there. I have no faith in your pre- 
sentiments.” 

The sergeant, although he scarce knew, himself, with what 
object, complied, and Cap was summoned to join in the con- 
sultation. As Pathfinder was more collected than his com- 
panion, and felt so strong a conviction of the good faith of the 
party accused, he assumed the office of spokesman. 

“ We have asked you to come down, Master Cap,” he com' 
menced, “ in order to inquire if you have remarked anything 
out of the common way, in the movements of Eau-douce, this 
evening ? ” 

“ His movements are common enough, I dare say, for fresh 
water. Master Pathfinder, though we should think most of his 
proceedings irregular, down on the coast.” 

“ Yes, yes — we know you will never agree with the lad about 
the manner the cutter ought to be managed ; but it is on an 
other p’int we wish your opinion.” 

The Pathfinder then explained to Cap the nature of the sus- 
picion which the sergeant entertained, and the reasons why 
they had been excited, so far as the latter had been communi- 
cated by Major Duncan. 

“ The youngster talks French, does he ? ” 

“ They say he speaks it better than common,” returned the 
sergeant, gravely. “ Pathfinder knows this to be true,” 

“ I’ll not gainsay it — I’ll not gainsay it,” answered the guide, 
at least they tell me such is the fact. But this would prove 
nothing ag’in a Mississagua, and least of all ag’in one like 
Jasper. I speak the Mingo dialect myself, having I’arnt it 
while a prisoner among the riptyles ; but who will say I am 
their fri’nd } Not that I am an inimy, either, according to 
Injin notions ; though I am their inimy, I will admit, agreeable 
to Christianity.” 

“Ay, Pathfinder, but Jasper did not get his French as a 


l8o THE PATHFINDER 

prisoner : he took it in, in boyhood, when the mind is easily 
impressed, and gets its permanent notions ; when nature has a 
presentment, as it were, which way the character is likely to 
incline.” 

“ A very just remark,” added Cap, “ for that is the time of 
life when we. all learn the catechism, and other moral improve* 
ments. The sergeant’s observation shows that he understands 
human nature, and I agree with him perfectly ; it is a damnable 
thing for a youngster, up here, on this bit of fresh water, to 
talk French. If it were down on the Atlantic now, where a sea- 
fearing man has occasion sometimes to converse with a pilot, 
or a linguister, in that language, I should not think so much of 
it, though we always look with suspicion, even there, at a ship- 
mate who knows too much of the tongue : but up here, on On- 
tario, I hold it to be a most suspicious circumstance.” 

“ But Jasper must talk in French to the people on the other 
shore,” said Pathfinder, “ or hold his tongue, as there are none 
but French to speak to.” 

“ You don’t mean to tell me. Pathfinder, that France lies 
hereaway, on the opposite coast "i ” cried Cap, jerking a thumb 
over his shoulder, in the direction of the Canadas ; “ that one 
side of this bit of fresh water is York, and the other PTance .? ” 

“ I mean to tell you this is York, and that is Upper Canada ; 
and that English and Dutch and Indian are spoken in the first, 
and French and Indian in the last. Even the Mingoes have 
got many of the French words in their dialect, and it is no im* 
provement, neither.” 

“Very true ; and what sort of people are the Mingoes, my 
friend ? ” inquired the sergeant, touching the other on a shoul- 
der, by the way of enforcing a remark, the inherent truth of 
which sensibly increased its value in the eyes of the speaker — ■ 
“ no one knows better than yourself, and I ask you what sort 
of a tribe are they ? ” 

“Jasper is no Mingo, sergeant.” 

“ He speaks French, and he might as well be, in that par- 
ticular. Brother Cap, can you recollect no movement of this 
unfortunate young man, in the way of his calling, that would 
seem to denote treachery .? ” 

“ Not distinctl}', sergeant, though he has gone to work 
wrong-end foremost, half his time. It is true that one of his 
hands coiled a rope against the sun, and he called it curling a 
rope, too, when I asked him what he was about ; but I am not 
certain that anything was meant by it ; though I dare say the 
French coil half their running rigging the wrong way, and maj 


THE PA THFINDER. 


l8i 

call it ‘curling it down,’ too, for that matter. Then Jasper, 
himself, belayed the end of the jib-halyards to a stretcher in 
the rigging, instead of bringing them in to the mast, where they 
belong, at least among British sailors.” 

“I dare say Jasper may have got some Canada notions 
about working his craft, from being so much on the other side,” 
Pathfinder interposed — “but catching an idee or a word 
isn’t treachery and bad faith. I sometimes get an idee from 
the Mingoes themselves ; but my heart has always been v/ith 
the Delawares. No — no — Jasper is true ; the king might trust 
him with his crown, just as he would his eldest son, who, as ho 
is to wear it one day, ought to be the last man 'to wish to steal 
it.” 

“ Fine talking — fine talking ” said Cap, rising to spit out 

of the cabin-window, as is customary with men when they most 
feel their own great moral strength and happen to chew to- 
bacco — “ all fine talking. Master Pathfinder, but d d little 

logic. In the first place, the king’s majesty cannot lend his 
crown, it being contrary to the laws of the realm, which require 
him to wear it at all times, in order that his sacred person may 
be known, just as the silver oar is necessary to a sheriff’s 
officer afloat. In the next place it’s high-treason by law for the 
eldest son of his majesty ever to covet the crown, or to have a 
child except in lawful wedlock, as either would derange the 
succession. Thus you see. Pathfinder, that, in order to reason 
truly, one must get under way, as it might be, on the right tack. 
Law is reason, and reason is philosoph}^, and philosophy is a 
steady drag — whence it follows that crowns are regulated by 
law, reason, and philosophy.” 

“ I know little of all this. Master Cap ; but nothing short of 
seein’ and feelin’ will make me think Jasper Western a traitor.” 

“ There you are wrong again. Pathfinder, for there is a way 
of proving a thing much more conclusively then by either 
seeing or feeling, or both together : and that is, by a circum- 
stance.” 

“ It may be so in the settlements ; but it is not so, here, on 
the lines.” 

“It is so in Nature, w'hich is monarch over all. Now, ac- 
cording to our senses, young Eau-douce is this moment on deck, 
and by going up there either of us might see and feel him ; but 
should it afterwards appear that a fact was communicated to 
the French at this precise moment, which fact no one but 
Jasper could communicate ; why, we should be bound to believe 


i 82 


THE PATHFINDER. 


that the circumstance was true, and that our eyes and oul 
fingers deceived us. Any lawyer will tell you that.’^ 

“ This is hardly right,” said Pathfinder ; “ nor is it possible 
seein’ that it is ag’in fact.” 

“ It is much more than possible, my worthy guide ; it is 
law ; absolute, king’s law of the realm, and, as such, to be re- 
spected and obeyed. I’d hang my own brother on such testi* 
mony — no reflections on the family being meant, sergeant.” 

“ God knows how far all this applies to Jasper ; though I 
do believe Mr. Cap is right as to the law. Pathfinder ; circum- 
stances being much stronger than the senses on such occasions. 
We must all of us be watchful, and nothing suspicious should 
be overlooked.” 

“ Now I recollect me,” continued Cap, again using the 
window — “there, was a circumstance just after we came on 
board this evening, that is extremely suspicious, and which may 
be set down at once as a make-weight against this lad. Jasper 
bent on the king’s ensign with his own hands, and while he 
pretended to be looking at Mabel and the soldier’s wife, giving 
directions about showing them below, here, and all that, he 
got the flag union down.” 

“ That might have been accident,” returned the sergeant, 
“ for such a thing has happened to myself ; besides, the hal- 
yards led to a pulley, and the flag, would have come right oi 
not, according to the manner in which the lad hoisted it.” 

“ A pully ! ” exclaims Cap, with strong disgust ; “ I wish, 
Sergeant Dunham, I could prevail on you to use proper terms. 
An ensign-halyard-block is no more a pulley than your halbert 
is a boarding-pike. It is true that, by hoisting on one part, 
another part would go uppermost ; but I look upon this affair 
of the ensign, now you have mentioned your suspicions, as a 
circumstance, and shall bear it in mind. I trust supper is 
not to be overlooked, however, even if we have a hold full of 
traitors.” 

“ It shall be duly attended to, brother Cap ; but I shall 
count on your aid in managing the Scud, should anything occul 
to induce me to arrest Jasper.” 

“ I’ll not fail you, sergeant ; and in such an event you’ll 
probably learn what this cutter can really perform ; for, as yet, 
I fancy it is pretty much matter of guess-work.” 

“ Well, for my part,” said Pathfinder, drawing a heavy sigh, 
** I shall cling to the hope of Jasper’s innocence, and recom 
mend plain dealing, by asking the lad, himself, without furthe? 


THE PA THFINDER, 


delay, whether he is or not a traitor, I’ll put Jasper Western 
ag’in all the presentiments and circumstances in the colony.” 

“ That will never do,” rejoined the sergeant. “ The re- 
sponsibility of this affair rests with me, and I request and enjoin 
that nothing be said to any one, without my knowledge. We 
will all keep watchful eyes about us, and take proper note of 
circumstances.” 

“ Ay — ay — circumstances are the things after all,” returned 
Cap. “ One circumstance is worth fifty facts. That I know 
to be the law of the realm. Many a man has been hanged on 
circumstances.” 

The conversation now ceased, and, after a short delay, the 
whole party returned to the deck, each individual disposed to 
view the conduct of the suspected Jasper in the manner most 
suited to his own habits and character. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

** Even such a man, so faint, so spiritless, 

So dull, so dead in look, so woe-begone, 

Drew Priam’s curtain in the dead of night, 

And would have told him half his Troy was burned.’* 

— Shakespbarb. 

All this time, matters were elsewhere passing in their usual 
train, Jasper, like the weather, and his vessel, seemed to be 
waiting, for the land-breeze ; while the soldiers, accustomed to 
early rising, had, to a man, sought their pallets in the main 
hold. None remained on deck but the people of the cutter, 
Mr. Muir, and the two females. The quartermaster was en- 
deavoring to render himself agreeable to Mabel, while our 
heroine herself, little affected by his assiduities, which she 
ascribed partly to the habitual gallantry of a soldier, and partly, 
perhaps, to her own pretty face, was enjoying the peculiarities 
of a scene and situation that to her were full of the charms of 
novelty. 

The sails had been hoisted, but as yet not a breath of air 
was in motion, and so still and placid was the lake that not the 
smallest motion was perceptible in the cutter. She had drifted 
in the river-current to a distance a little exceeding a quarter of 
a mile from the land, and there she lay, beautiful in her sym- 
metry and form, but like a fixture. Young Jasper was on the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


184 

quarter-deck, near enough to hear, occasionally, ^^^he conversa 
tion which passed, but too diffident of his own claim, and too 
intent on his duties, to attempt to mingle -in it. The fine blue 
eyes of Mabel followed his motions in curious expectation, and 
more than once the quartermaster had to repeat his compli- 
ments, ere she heard them, so intent was she on the little oc- 
currences of the vessel, and, we might add, so indifferent to 
the eloquence of her companion. At length even Mr. Muir be- 
came silent, and there was a deep stillness on the water. 
Presently an oar-blade fell in a boat, beneath the fort, and the 
sound reached the cutter as distinctly as if it had been pro- 
duced on her deck. Then came a murmur, like a sigh of the 
night, a fluttering of the canvas, the creaking of the boom, and 
the flap of the jib. These well-known sounds were followed 
by a slight heel in the cutter, and by the bellying of all the 
sails. 

“Here’s the wind, Anderson ” — called out Jasper to the 
oldest of his sailors — “ take the helm.” 

This brief order was obeyed ; the helm was put up, the 
cutter’s bows fell off, and in a few minutes the water was heard 
murmuring under her head, as the Scud glanced through the 
lake at the rate of five miles in an hour. All this passed in 
profound silence, when Jasper again gave the order to “ease 
off the sheets a little, and keep her along the land.” 

It was at this instant that the party from the after-cabin 
re-appeared on the quarter-deck. 

“You’ve no inclination, Jasper, lad, to trust yourself too 
near our neighbors, the French,” observed Muir, who took that 
occasion to recommence the discourse. “ Well, well, youi 
prudence will never be questioned by me, for I like the Can- 
adas as little as you can possibly like them yourself ! ” 

“ I hug this shore, Mr. Muir, on account of the wind. The 
land breeze is always freshest close in, provided you are not so 
near as to make a lee of the trees. We have Mexico Bay to 
cross, and that, on the present course, will give us quite offing 
enough.” 

“ I’m right glad it’s not the Bay of Mexico,” put in Cap, 
“ which is a part of the world I would rather not visit in one of 
your inland craft. Does your cutter bear a weather helm. 
Master Oh-the-deuce ? ” 

“ She is easy on her rudder. Master Cap, but likes looking 
up at the breeze as well as another, when in lively motion.’* 

“ I suppose you have such things as reefs, though you can 
hardly have occasion to use them ? ” 


THE PA THFINDER. 


185 

Mabel’s bright eye detected the smile that gleamed for an 
instant on Jasper’s handsome face, but no one else saw that 
momentary exhibition of surprise and contempt. 

“ We have reefs, and often have occasions to use them,” 
quietly returned the young man. “ Before we get in, Master 
Cap, an opportunity may offer to show you the manner in which 
we do so, for there is easterly weather brewing, and. the wind 
cannot chop, even on the ocean itself, more readily than it 
flies round on Lake Ontario.” 

“ So much for knowing no better ! I have seen the wind 
in the Atlantic fly round like a coach-wheel, in a way to keep 
your sails shaking for an hour, and the ship would become per- 
fectly motionless from not knowing which way to turn.” 

“We have no such sudden changes here, certainly,” Jasper 
mildly answered — “ though we think ourselves liable to unex- 
pected shifts of wind. I hope, however, to carry this land- 
breeze as far as the first islands : after which there will be less 
danger of being seen and followed by any of the look-out boats 
from Frontenac.” 

“ Do you think the French keep spies out on the broad lake 
Jasper? ” inquired Pathfinder. 

“ We know they do ; one was off Oswego, during the night 
of Monday last. A bark canoe came close in with the eastern 
point, and landed an Indian and an officer. Had you been 
outlaying that night, as usual, we should have secured one, if 
not both of them.” 

It was too dark to betray the color that deepened on the 
weather-burnt features of the guide, for he felt the consciousness 
of having lingered in the fort that night, listening to the sweet 
tones of Mabel’s voice, as she sang ballads to her father, and 
gazing at the countenance, that to him was radiant with charms. 
Probity, in thought and deed, being the distinguishing quality 
of this extraordinary man’s mind, while he felt that a sort of 
disgrace ought to attach to his idleness, on the occasion men- 
tioned, the last thought that could occur would be to attempt to 
palliate or deny this negligence. 

“ I confess it, Jasper, I confess it,” he said, humbly. “ Had 
I been out that night — and I now remember no sufficient reason 
w'hy I was not— it might, indeed, have tuimed out as you say.” 

“ It was the evening you passed with us. Pathfinder,” Mabel 
innocently remarked ; “ surely one who lives so much of his 
time in the forest, in front of the enemy, may be excused 
for giving a few hours of his time to an old friend and his 
daughter.” 


i86 


THE PA THFINDER, 


“ Nay, nay, I’ve done little else but idle since we reached 
the garrison,” returned the other, sighing, “ and it is well that 
the lad should tell me of it ; the idler needs a scoldin’ — yes, he 
needs a scoldin’. ” 

“ Scolding, Pathfinder ! I never dreamed of saying any 
thing disagreeable, and least of all would I think of rebuking 
you, because a solitary spy, and an Indian or two, have escaped 
us ! Now I know where you were, and I think your absence 
the most natural thing in the world.” 

“ I think nothing of it, Jasper, I think nothing of what you 
said, since it was desarved. We are all human, and all do 
wrong.” 

“ This is unkind. Pathfinder.” 

‘‘ Give me your hand, lad, give your hand. It wasn’t you 
that gave me the lesson ; it was conscience.” 

“ Well, well,” interrupted Cap, “ now this latter matter is 
settled to the satisfaction of all parties, perhaps you will tell us 
how it happened to be known that there were spies near us so 
lately. This looks amazingly like a circumstance ! ’’ 

As the mariner uttered the last sentence, he pressed a foot 
slyly on that of the sergeant, and nudged the guide with his 
elbow, winking, at the same time, though this sign was lost in 
the obscurity. 

“ It is known because their trail was found next day by the 
Serpent, and it was that of a military boot and a moccasin. One 
of our hunters, moreover, saw the canoe crossing toward Fron- 
tenac next morning.” 

“ Did the trail lead near the garrison, Jasper } ” Pathfinder 
asked, in a manner so meek and subdued that it resembled the 
tone of a rebuked schoolboy. “ Did the trail lead near the gar- 
rison, lad ? ” 

“ We thought not — though of course it did not cross the river. 
It was followed down to the eastern point, at the river’s mouth, 
where what was doing in port might be seen ; but it did not 
cross, as we could discover.” 

“And why didn’t you get under way. Master Jasper,” Cap 
demanded, “ and give chase 1 On Tuesday morning it blew a 
good breeze ; one in which this cutter might have, run nine 
knots.” 

“ That may do on the ocean. Master Cap,” put in Pathfinder, 
“ but it would not do here. Water leaves no trail, and a Mingo 
and a Frenchman are a match for the devil in a pursuit.” 

“ Who wants a trail when the chase can be seen from the 
deck, as Jasper, here, said was the case with this canoe } and 


THE PATHFINDER. 


187 

It mattered nothing if there were twenty of 3'^our Mingoes and 
Frenchmen, with a good British- built bottom in their wake. 
I’ll engage, Master Oh-the-deuce, had you given me a call that 
said Tuesday morning, that we should have overhauled the 
blackguards.” 

“ I dare say, Master Cap, that the advice of as old a sea- 
man as you might have done no harm to as young a sailor as 
myself, but it is a long and a hopeless chase that has a bark 
canoe in it.” 

“ You would have had only to press it hard to drive it 
ashore.” 

“ Ashore, Master Cap ! You do not understand our lake 
navigation at all, if you suppose it an easy matter to force a 
bark canoe ashore. As soon as they find themselves pressed, 
these bubbles paddle right into the wind’s eye, and, before you 
know it, you find yourself a mile or two dead under their lee.” 

“You don’t wish me to believe. Master Jasper, that anyone 
is so heedless of drowning, as to put off in this lake, in one of 
them eggshells, when there is any wind ? ” 

“ I have often crossed Ontario in a bark canoe, even when 
there has been a good deal of sea on. Well managed, they are 
the driest boats of which we have any knowledge.” 

Cap now led his brother-in-law and Pathfinder aside, when 
he assured him that the admission of Jasper concerning the spies 
was a “ circumstance,” and “ a strong circumstance,” and as 
such, deserved his deliberate investigation ; while his account 
of the canoes was so improbable as to wear the appearance of 
browbeating the listeners. Jasper spoke confidently of the 
character of the two individuals who had landed, and this Cap 
deemed pretty strong proof that he knew more about them than 
was to be gathered from a mere trail. As for the moccasins, 
he said that they were worn, in that part of the world, by white 
men, as well as by Indians : he had purchased a pair himself ; 
and boots, it was notorious, did not particularly make a soldier. 
Although much of this logic was thrown away on the sergeant, 
still it produced some effect. He thought it a little singular 
himself that there should have been spies detected so near 
the fort and he knew nothing of it, nor did he believe that this 
was a branch of knowledge that fell particularly within the sphere 
of Jasper. It was true that the Scud had once or twice been 
sent across the lake to land men of this character, or to bring 
them off; but then the part played by Jasper, to his own cer- 
tain knowledge, was very secondary, the master of the cutter 
remaining as ignorant as any one else of the purport of the 


i88 


THE PATHFINDER. 


visits of those whom he had carried to and fro ; nor did he see 
why he, alone, of all present, should know anything of the late 
visit. Pathfinder viewed the matter differently. With his hab 
itual diffidence he reproached himself with a neglect of duty, 
and that knowledge of which the want struck him as a fault 
in one whose business it was to possess it, appeared a merit to 
the young man. He saw nothing extraordinary in Jasper’s 
knowing the facts he had related ; while he did feel it was un- 
usual, not to say disgraceful, that he himself now heard of them 
for the first time. 

“ As for moccasins. Master Cap,” he said, when a short 
pause invited him to speak, “ they may be worn by palefaces 
as well as by redskins ; it is true, though, they never leave the 
same trail on the foot of one as on the foot of the other. Any 
one who is used to the woods can tell the footstep of an Injin 
from the footstep of a white man, whether it be made by a boot 
or a moccasin. It will need better evidence than this to make 
me believe that Jasper is false.” 

“ You will allow. Pathfinder, that there are such things in 
the world as traitors,” put in Cap, logically. 

“ I never knew an honest-minded Mingo — one that you 
could put faith in, if he had a temptation to deceive you. 
Cheatin’ seems to be their gift, and I sometimes think they 
ought to be pitied for it rather than persecuted.” 

“ Then why not believe that this Jasper may have the same 
weakness ? A man is a man, and human nature is sometimes 
but a poor concern, as I know by experience ; I may say, well 
know by experience ; at least I speak for my own human na- 
ture.” 

This was the opening of another long and desultory conver- 
sation, in which the probability of Jasper’s guilt or innocence 
was argued pro and con, until both the sergeant and his broth- 
er-in-law had nearly reasoned themselves into settled convic- 
tions in favor of the first, while their companion grew sturdier 
and sturdier in his defence of the accused, and still more fixed 
in his opinion of his being unjustly charged with treachery. 
In this there was nothing out of the common course of things, 
for there is no more certain way of arriving at any particular 
notion, than by undertaking to defend it ; and, among the 
most obstinate of our opinions, may be classed those which are 
derived from discussions in which we affect to search for truth, 
while in reality we are only fortifying prejudice. By this time, 
the sergeant had reached a state of mind that disposed him to 
view every act of the young sailor with distrust, and he soou 


THE PATHFINDER, 


189 

got to coincide with his relative in deeming the peculiar knowh 
I edge of Jasper, in reference to the spies, a branch of informa- 
tion that certainly did not come within the circle of his regular 
duties, as a “ circumstance.’^ 

While this matter was thus discussed near the taffrail, Mav 
bel sat silent by the companion-way; Mr. Muir having gone 
j below to look after his personal comforts, and Jasper standing 

j a little aloof, with his arms crossed, and his eyes wandering 
[ from the sails to the clouds, and the clouds to the dusky out- 
line of the shore, from the shore to the lake, and from the lake 
back again to the sails. Our heroine, too, began to commune 
with her own thoughts. The excitement of the late journey, 
the incidents which marked the day of her arrival at the fort, 
the meeting with a father who was virtually a stranger to her, 
the novelty of her late situation in the garrison, and her pres- 
ent voyage, formed a vista for the mind’s eye to look back 
through, that seemed lengthened into months. She could with 
difficulty believe that she had so recently left the town, with all 
the usages of civilized life : and she wondered, in particular, 
that the incidents which had occurred during the descent of 
the Oswego, had made so little impression on her mind. Too 
inexperienced to know that events, when crowded, have the 
effect of time, or that the quick succession of novelties that 
pass before us in travelling, elevates objects, in a measure, to 
the dignity of events, she drew upon her memory for days and 
dates, in order to make certain that she had known Jasper, 
and the Pathfinder, and her own father, but little more than a 
fortnight. Mabel was a girl of heart rather than of imagina- 
tion, though by no means deficient in the last, and she could 
not easily account for the strength of her feelings in connec- 
tion with those who were lately strangers to her ; for she was 
not sufficiently accustomed to analyze her sensations, to under- 
stand the nature of the influences that have just been men- 
tioned. As yet, however, her pure mind was free from the 
blight of distrust, and she had no suspicion of the views of 
either of her suitors ; and one of the last thoughts that could 
have voluntarily disturbed her confidence, would have been to 
suppose it possible either of her companions was a traitor to 
his king and country. 

America, at the time of which we are writing, was remarka 
ble for its attachment to the German family that then sat on the 
British throne ; for, as is the fact with all provinces, the virtues 
and qualities that are proclaimed near the centre of power, as 
incense and policy, get to be a part of political faith with the 


THE PA THFINDER. 


190 

credulous and ignorant, at a distance. The truth is just as 
apparent to-day, in connection with the prodigies of the repub' 
lie, as it then was in connection with those distant rulers, 
whose merits it was always safe to applaud, and whose demer- 
its it was treason to reveal. It is a consequence of this mental 
dependence, that public opinion is so much placed at the mercy 
of the designing ; and the world, in the midst of its idle boasts 
of knowledge and improvement, is left to receive its truths, on 
all such points as touch the interests of the powerful and man- 
aging, through such a medium, and such a medium only, as 
may serve the particular views of those who pull the wires. 
Pressed upon by the subjects of France, who were then en- 
circling the British colonies with a belt of forts and settle- 
ments that completely secured the savages for allies, it would 
have been difficult to say whether the Americans loved the 
English more than they hated the French ; and those who then 
lived probably would have considered the alliance which took 
place between the cisatlantic subjects and the ancient rivals of 
the British crown, some twenty years later, as an event entirely 
without the circle of probabilities. In a word, as fashions are 
exaggerated in a province, so are opinions ; and the loyalty 
that at London merely formed a part of a political scheme, at 
New York was magnified into a faith that might almost have 
moved mountains. Disaffection was, consequently, a rare of- 
fence; and, most of all, would treason, that should favor 
France or Frenchmen, have been odious in the eyes of the pro- 
vincials. The last thing that Mabel would suspect of Jasper, 
was the very crime with which he now stood secretly charged ; 
and, if others near her endured the pains of distrust, she, at 
least, was filled with the generous confidence of a woman. As 
yet, no whisper had reached her ear to disturb the feeling of 
reliance with which she had early regarded the young sailor, 
and her own mind would have been the last to suggest such a 
thought, of itself. The pictures of the past and the present, 
therefore, that exhibited themselves so rapidly to her active 
imagination, were unclouded with a shade that might affect any 
one in whom she felt an interest : and ere she had mused, in 
the manner related, a quarter of an hour, the whole scene 
around her was filled with unalloyed satisfaction. 

The season and the night, to represent them trulv, were of 
a nature to stimulate the sensations which youth, health, and 
happiness, are wont to associate with novelty. The weather was 
warm, as is not always the case in that region, even in summer, 
while the air that came off the land in breathing currents, 


THE PA THFINDER. 


191 

i brought with it the coolness and fragrance of the forest. The 
i wind was far from being fresh, though there was enough of it 
I to drive the Scud merrily ahead, and perhaps to keep attention 
i alive, in the uncertainty that, more or less, accompanies dark- 
: ness. Jasper, however, appeared to regard it with complacency, 
i as was apparent by what he said in a short dialogue that now 
I occured between him and Mabel. 

“ At this rate, Eau-douce ” (for so Mabel had already 
i learned to style the young sailor), said our heroine, “ we can- 
j not be long in reaching our place of destin ation.” 

I “ Has your father told you what that is, Mabel ? ” 

I “ He has told me nothing ; my father is too much of a 

I > soldier, and too little used to have a family around him, to talk 
of such matters. Is it forbidden to say whither we are bound 
“ It cannot be far, while we steer in this direction, for sixty 
or seventy miles will take us into the St. Lawrence, which the 
French might make too hot for us ; and no voyage on this lake 
can be very long.” 

So says my uncle Cap ; but to me, Jasper, Ontario and the 
ocean appear very much the same.” 
j “ You have been on the ocean, while I, who pretend to be 
I' a sailor, have never yet seen salt-water } You must have a 
i great contempt for surh a mariner as myself, in your heart, 

I Mabel Dunham ? ” 

“ Then I have no such thing in my heart, Jasper Eau-douce. 

! What right have I, a girl without experience or knowledge, to 
I despise any, . much less one like you, who are trusted by the 
I major, and who command a vessel like this ! I have never 
been on the ocean, though I have seen it ; and, I repeat, I see no 
difference between this lake and the Atlantic.” 

“ Nor in them that sail on both ? I was afraid, Mabel, 
ycur uncle had said so much against us fresh-water sailors 
that you had begun to look upon us as little better than pre- 
tenders.” 

“ Give yourself no uneasiness on that account, Jasper, for 
I know my’ uncle, and he says as many things against those 
who live ashore when at York, as he now says against those who 
sail on fresh water. No — no ; neither my father nor myself 
think anything of such opinions ; my uncle Cap, if he spoke 
openly, would be found to have even a worse notion of a soldier 
than of a sailor who never saw the sea.” 

“ But your father, Mabel, has a better opinion of soldiers 
than of any one else ; he wishes you to be the wife of a sok 
dier.” 


192 


THE PATHFINDER, 


“ Jasper Fau-douce ! — I, the wife of a soldier ! — My father 
wishes it ! — Why should he wish any such thing — what soldier 
Is there in the garrison that I could marry — that he could wish 
me to marry ? ” 

“ One may love a calling so well as to fancy it will cover a 
thousand imperfections.’’ 

“ But one is not likely to love his own calling so well as tc 
cause him to overlook everything else. You say my father 
wishes me to marry a soldier, and yet there is no soldier, at 
Oswego, that he would be likely to give me to. I am in an 
awkward position, for, while I am not good enough to be the 
wife of one of the gentlemen of the garrison, I think, even you 
will admit, Jasper, I am too good to be the wife of one of the 
common soldiers.” 

As Mabel spoke thus frankly, she blushed, she knew not why, 
though the obscurity concealed the fact from her companion ; 
and she laughed faintly, like one who felt that the subject, how- 
ever embarrassing it might be, deserved to be treated fairly. 
Jasper, it seemed, viewed her position differently from herself. 

“ It is true, Mabel,” he said, “ you are not what is called a 
lady, in the common meaning of the word ” 

“ Not in any meaning, Jasper,” the generous girl eagerly 
interrupted ; “ on that head I have no vanities, I hope. Prov- 
idence has made me the daughter of a sergeant, and I am con- 
tent to remain in the station in which I was born.” 

“ But all do not remain in the stations in which they were 
born, Mabel, for some rise above them, and some fall below them. 
Many sergeants have become officers — even generals ; and 
why may not sergeants’ daughters become officers’ ladies t ” 

“ In the case of Sergeant Dunham’s daughter, I know no 
better reason than the fact that no officer is likely to wish to 
make her his wife,” returned Mabel, laughing. 

“ You may think so ; but there are some in the 55th that 
know better. There is certainly one officer in that regiment, ; 
Mabel, who does wish to make you his wife.” 

Quick as the flashing lightning, the rapid thoughts of Mabel j 
Dunham glanced over the five or six subalterns of the corps, 
who, by age and inclinations, would be the mo^t likely to from 
such a wish ; and we should do injustice to her habits, perhaps, I 
were we not to say that a lively sensation of pleasure rose 1 
momentarily in her bosom, at the thought of being raised above 
a station which, whatever might be her professions of content- , . 
ment, she felt that she had been too well educated to fill with 
perfect satisfaction. But this emotion was as transient as it 


THE PATHFINDER. 


193 

sudden, for Mabel Dunham was a girl of too m /ch pure and 
womanly feeling, to view the marriage-tie through anything so 
worldly as the mere advantages of station. The passing emotion 
was a thrill produced by habit, while the more settled opinion 
which remained, was the offsp-ring of nature and principles. 

“ I know no officer in the 55th, or any other regiment, who 
would be likely to do so foolish a thing ; nor do I think I my- 
self would do so foolish a thing as to marry an officer.’^ 

“ Foolish, Mabel ! ” 

“Yes, foolish, Jasper. You know, as well as I can know, 
what the world would think of such matters, and I should be 
sorry, very sorry, to find that my husband ever regretted that he 
had so far yielded to a fancy for a face or a figure, as to have 
married the daughter of one so much his inferior as a sergeant.” 

“ Your husband, Mabel, will not be so likely to think of the 
father as to think of the daughter*” 

The girl was talking with spirit, though feeling evidently 
entered into her part of the discourse ; but she paused for a 
minute after Jasper had made the last observation, before she 
uttered another word. Then she continued, in a manner less 
playful, and one critically attentive might have fancied in a 
manner that was slightly melancholy : 

“ Parent and child ought so to live as not to have two hearts, 
or two modes of feeling and thinking. A common interest in 
all things, I should think as necessary to happiness in man and 
wife, as between the other members of the family. Most of all 
ought neither the man nor the woman to have any unusual 
cause for unhappiness, the world furnishing so many of itself.' 

“ Am I to understand, then, Mabel, you would refuse to 
marry an officer, merely because he was an officer ? ” 

“ Have you a right to ask such a question, Jasper } ” said 
Mabel, smiling. 

“ No other right, than what a strong desire to see you happy 
can give, which, after all, may be very little. My anxiety has 
been increased from happening to know that it is your father’s 
intention to persuade you to marry Lieutenant Muir.” 

“ My dear, dear father can entertain no notion so ridicu- 
lous ; no notion so cruel ! ” 

“Would it, then, be cruel to wish you the wife of a quarter 
master.^ ” 

“ I have told you what I think on that subject, and I cannot 
make my words stronger. Having answered you so frankly, 
Jasper, I have a right to ask how you know that my father 
thinks of any such thing ? ” 


194 


THE PATHFINDER, 


“ That he has chosen a husband for you, I know frcm his 
own mouth ; for he has told me this much during our frequent 
conversations, while he has been superintending the shipment 
of the stores; and that Mr. Muir is to offer for you, I know 
from the officer himself, who has told me as much. By putting 
the two things together, I have come to the opinion mentioned.' 

“ May not my dear father, Jasper” — Mabel’s face glowec 
like fire while she spoke, though her words escaped her slowly, 
and by a sort of involuntary impulse — “ may not my dear father 
have been thinking of another ? It does not follow, from what ! 
you say, that Mr. Muir was in his mind.” 

“ Is it not probable, Mabel, from all that has passed "i Wha‘: 
brings the quartermaster here ? He 'has never found it neces- 
sary before, to accompany the parties that have gone below : 
he thinks of you for his wife ; and your father has made up 
his own mind that you shall be so. You must see, Mabel, that | 
Mr. Muir follows you ” 

Mabel made no answer. Her feminine instinct had, in- ! 
deed, told her that she was an object of admiration with the 
quartermaster, though she had hardly supposed to the extent 1 
that Jasper believed : and she, too, had even gathered from the j 
discourse of her father, that he thought seriously of having her 
disposed of in marriage ; but by no process of reasoning could 
she have ever arrived at the inference that Mr. Muir was to be 
the man. She did not believe it now — though she was far 
from suspecting the truth. Indeed it w^as her opinion that the i 
casual remarks of her father which had struck her, had pro- : 
ceeded from a general wish to have her settled, rather than 
from any desire to see her united to any particular individual. 
These thoughts, however, she kept secret ; for self-respect and 
feminine reserve showed her the impropriety of making them 
the subject of discussion with her present companion. By way 
of changing the conversation, therefore, after the pause had 
lasted long enough to be embarrassing to both parties, she - 
said : 

“ Of one thing you may be certain, Jasper; and that is all I 
wish to say on the subject : Lieutenant Muir, though he were a 
colonel, will never be ashamed of Mabel Dunham. And now, 
tell me of your voyage — when will it end ? ” ^ 

“ That is uncertain. Once afloat, we are at the mercy of , 
the winds and waves. Pathfinder will tell you, that he who f 
begins to chase the deer in the morning cannot tell where he J 
will sleep at night.” ■ 


THE PATHFINDER, 


195 

“ But we are not chasing a deer, nor is it morning ; so Path- 
finder’s moral is thrown away.” 

“ Although we are not chasing a deer, we are after that 
which may be as hard to catch. I can tell you no more than I 
have said already ; for it is our duty to be close-mouthed, whether 
anything depends on it or not. I am afraid, however, I shall 
not keep you long enough in the Scud, to show you what she 
can do in fair and foul.” 

“ I think a woman unwise who ever marries a sailor,” said 
Mabel abruptly, and almost involuntaril3^ 

“ This is a strange opinion ; why do you hold it ? ” 

“ Because a sailor’s wife is certain to have a rival in his 
vessel. My uncle Cap, too, says that a sailor should never 
marr}^'.” 

“ He means salt-water sailors,” returned Jasper, laughing. 
“ If he thinks wives not good enough for those who sail on the 
ocean, he will fancy them just suited to those who sail on the 
lakes. I hope, Mabel, you do not take your opinions of us 
fresh^water mariners from all that Master Cap says.” 

“ Sail, ho ! ” exclaimed the very individual of whom they 
were conversing — “ or boat, ho ! would be nearer the truth.” 

Jasper ran forward; and sure enough, a small object was 
discernible about a hundred yards ahead of the cutter, and 
nearly on her lee bow. At the first glance, he saw it was a 
bark canoe ; for though the darkness prevented hues from be- 
ing distinguished, the eye that had got accustomed to the night 
might discern forms at some little distance ; and the eye which, 
like Jasper’s, had long been familiar with things aquatic, could 
not be at a loss in discovering the outlines necessary to come 
to the conclusion that he did. 

“ This may be an enemy,” the young man remarked ; “ and 
it may be well to overhaul him.” 

“ He is paddling with all his might, lad,” observed the Path- 
finder, “ and means to cross your bows and get to windward, 
when you might as well chase a full-grown buck on snow- 
shoes ? ” 

“Let her luff!” — cried Jasper, to the man at the helm. 
“ Luff up, till she shakes — there, steady, and hold all that.” 

The helmsman complied, and as the Scud was now dashing 
the water aside merrily, a minute or two put the canoe so fal 
to leeward as to render escape impracticable. Jasper now 
sprang to the helm himself and by judicious and careful hand- 
ling, he got so near his chase that it was secured by a boat 


THE PATHFINDER. 


i96 

hook. On receiving an order, the two persons who were in the 
canoe left it, and no sooner had they reached the deck of the 
cutter than they were found to be Arrowhead and his w:fe. 


CHAPTER XV. 


** What pearl is it that rich men cannot buy, 

That learning is too proud to gather up ; 

But which the poor and the despised of all, 

Seek and obtain, and often find unsought ? 

Tell me— and I will tell thee what is truth.’* 

— COWPHR. 

The meeting with the Indian and his wife excited no sur- 
prise in the majority of those who witnessed the occurrence ; 
but Mabel, and all who knew of the manner in which this chief 
had been separated from the party of Cap, simultaneously en- 
tertained suspicions, which it was far easier to feel than to fol- 
low out, by any plausible clew to certainty. Pathfinder, who 
alone could converse freely with the prisoners, for such they 
might now be considered, took Arrowhead aside, and held a 
long conversation with him, concerning the reasons of the 
latter for having deserted his charge, and the manner in which 
he had been since employed. 

The Tuscarora met these inquiries, and he gave his answers, 
with the stoicism of an Indian. As respects the separation, his 
excuses were very simply made, and they seemed to be suffici- 
ently plausible. When he found that the party was discovered 
in its place of concealment, he naturally sought his own safety, 
which he secured by plunging into the woods, for he made no 
doubt that all who could not effect this much, would be mas- 
sacred on the spot. In a word, he had run away, in order to 
save his life. 

“ This is well,” returned Pathfinder, affecting to believe the 
other’s apologies ; “ my brother did very wisely : but his woman 
followed } ” 

“ Do not the palefaces’ women follow their husbands ? 
Would not Pathfinder have looked back to see if one he loved 
was coming ? ” 

This appeal was made to the guide while he was in a most 
fortunate frame of mind to admit its force ; for Mabel, and her 
blandishments and constancy, were getting to be images familial 


THE PATHFINDER, 


197 


to his thougnts. The Tuscarora, though he could not trace 
the reason, saw that his excuse was admitted, and he stood, 
with quiet dignity, awaiting the next inquiry. 

“This is reasonable and nat’ral,” returned Pathfinder, in 
English, passing from one language to the other, insensibly to 
himself, as his feelings or habits dictated — “this is nat’ral and 
may be so. A woman would be likely to follow the man to 
whom she had plighted faith, and husband and wife are one 
flesh. Mabel, herself, would have been likely to follow the 
sergeant, had he been present, and retreated in this manner ; 
and, no doubt, no doubt, the w^arm-hearted girl would have 
followed her husband ! Your words are honest, Tuscarora,” 
changing the language to the dialect of the other. “ Your words 
are honest, and very pleasant, and just. But why has my brother 
been so long from the fort ? — his friends have thought of him 
often, but have never seen him ! ” 

“ If the doe follows the buck, ought not the buck to follow 
the doe ? ” answered the Tuscarora, smiling, and laying a finger 
significantly on the shoulder of his interrogator. “ Arrowhead’s 
wife followed Arrowhead ; it was right in Arrowhead to follow 
his wife. She lost her way, and they made her cook in a strange 
wigwam.” 

“ I understand you, Tuscarora. The woman fell into the 
hands of the Mingoes, and you kept upon their trail.” 

“ Pathfinder can see a reason as easily as he can see the 
moss on the trees. It is so.” 

“ And how long have you got the woman back, and in what 
manner has it been done ” 

“ Two suns. The Dew-of-June was not long in coming, 
when her husband whispered to her the path.” 

“Well, well, all this seems nat’ral, and according to matri- 
mony. But, Tuscarora, how did you get that canoe, and why 
are you paddling toward the St. Lawrence instead of the gar- 
rison ?” 

“ Arrowhead can tell his own from that of another. This 
canoe is mine ; I found it on the shore, near the fort.” 

“ That sounds reasonable, too, for the canoe does belong 
to the man, and an Injin would make few words about taking 
it. Still, it is extra’ord’nary that we saw nothing of the fellow 
and his wife, for the canoe must have left the river before we 
did ourselves.” 

This idea, which passed rapidly through the mind of the 
guide, was now put to the Indian in the shape of a question. 

“ Pathfinder knows that a warrior can have shame. The 


THE PATHFINDER. 


198 

father would have asked me for his daughter, and I could not 
give her to him. I sent the Dew-of-June for the canoe, and no 
one spoke to the woman. A Tuscarora woman would not be 
free in speaking to strange men.” 

All this, too, was plausible, and in conformity with Indian 
character and Indian customs. As was usual. Arrowhead had 
recieved one-half of his compensation previously to quitting the 
Mohawk ; and his refraining to demand the residue was a 
proof of that conscientious consideration of mutual rights that 
quite as often distinguishes the morality of a savage as that of 
a Christian. To one as upright as Pathfinder, Arrowhead had 
conducted himself with delicacy and propriety, though it would 
have been more in accordance with his own frank nature, to 
have met the father, and abided by the simple truth. Still, 
accustomed to the ways of Indians, he saw nothing out of the 
ordinary track of things in the course the other had taken. 

“ This runs like water flowing down the hill. Arrowhead,” 
he answered, after a little reflection, and ‘‘truth obliges me to 
own it. It was the gift of a redskin to act in this way, though I 
do not think it was the gift of a paleface. You would not look 
upon the grief of the girl’s father.” 

Arrowhead made a quiet inclination of the body, as if to 
assent. 

“ One thing more my brother will tell me,” continued Path- 
finder, “ and there will be no cloud between his wigwam and 
the strong house of the Yengeese. If he can blow, away this bit 
of fog, his friends will look at him, as he sits by his own fire, 
and he can look at them, as they lay aside their arms, and for- 
get that they are warriors. Why was the head of Arrowhead’s 
canoe looking toward the St. Lawrence, where there are none 
but enemies to be found ? ” 

“ Why were the Pathfinder and his friends looking the same 
way } ” asked the Tuscarora, calmly. “ A Tuscarora may look 
in the same direction as a Yengeese.” 

“ Why, to own the truth. Arrowhead, we are out scouting 
like — that is, sailin’ ; in other words, we are on the king’s busi- 
ness, and we have a right to be here, though we may not have 
the right to say w/iy we are here.” 

“ Arrowhead saw the big canoe, and he loves to look on 
the face of Eau- douce. He was going toward the sun, at even- 
ing, in order to seek his wigwam ; but, finding that the young 
sailor was going the other way, he turned that he might look in 
the same direction. Eau-douce and Arrowhead were together 
on the last trail.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


199 

“This may all be true, Tuscarora, and you are welcome. 
You shall eat of our venison, and then we must separate. The 
setting sun is behind us, and both of us move quick : my 
brother will get too far from that which he seeks, unless he 
turns round.” 

Pathfinder now returned to the others, and repeated the re- 
sult of his examination. He appeared himself to believe that 
the account of Arrowhead might be true, though he admitted 
that caution would be prudent witli one he disliked ; but his 
auditors, Jasper excepted, seemed less disposed to put faith in 
the explanations. 

“ This chap must be ironed at once, brother Dunham,” said 
Cap, as soon as the Pathfinder finished his narration ; “he must 
be turned over to the master-at-arms, if there is any such officer 
on fresh water, and a court-martial ought to be ordered as soon 
as we reach port.” 

“ I think it wisest to detain the fellow,” the sergeant an- 
swered, “ but irons are unnecessary so long as he remains in 
the cutter. In the morning the matter shall be inquired into.” 

Arrowhead was now summoned and told the decision. The 
Indian listened gravely and made no objections. On the con- 
trary, he submitted with the calm and reserved dignity with 
which the American aborigines are known to yield to fate ; and 
he stood apart, an attentive but calm observer of v/hat was 
passing. Jasper caused the cutter’s sails to be filled, and the 
Scud resumed her course. 

It was now getting toward the hour to set the watch, and 
when it was usual to retire for the night. Most of the party 
went below, leaving no one on deck but Cap, the sergeant, Jas- 
per, and two of the crew. Arrowhead and his wife also re- 
mained, the former standing aloof in proud reserve, and the 
latter exhibiting, by her attitude and passiveness, the meek 
humility that characterizes an Indian woman. 

“ You will find a place for your wife below. Arrowhead, 
where my daughter will at^'md to her wants,” said the sergeant 
kindly, who was himself on the point of quitting the deck ; 
“ yonder is a sail, where you may sleep yourself.” 

“ I thank my father. The Tuscaroras are not poor. The 
woman will look for my blankets in the canoe.” 

“ As you wish, my friend. We think it necessary to detain 
you, but not necessary to confine, or to maltreat you. Send 
your squaw into the canoe for the blankets, and you may follow 
her yourself, and hand us up the paddles. As there may be 


200 


THE PATHFINDER. 


some sleepy heads in the Scud, Eau-douce,^* said the sergeant^ 
in a lower tone, “ it may be well to secure the paddles.’' 

■ Jasper assented, and Arrowhead and his wife, with whom 
resistance appeared to be out of the question, silently complied 
with the directions. A few expressions of sharp rebuke passed 
from the Indian to his wife, while both were employed in the 
canoe, which the latter received with submissive quiet, imme- 
diately repairing an error she had made, by laying aside the 
blanket she had taken, and searching another that was more 
to her tyrant’s mind. 

“ Come, bear a hand, Arrowhead,” said the sergeant, who 
stood on the gunwale, overlooking the movements of the two, 
which were proceeding too slowly for the impatience of a drowsy 
man. “ It is getting late ; and we soldiers have such a thing 
as reveille — early to bed and early to rise.” 

“ Arrowhead is coming,” was the answer, as the Tuscarora 
stepped toward the head of his canoe. 

One blow of his keen knife severed the rope which held the 
boat, when the cutter glanced ahead, leaving the light bubble 
of bark, which instantly lost its way, almost stationary. So 
suddenly and dexterously was this manoeuvre performed, that 
the canoe was on the lee quarter of the Scud before the ser- 
geant was aware of the artifice, and quite in her wake ere he 
had time to announce it to his companions. 

“ Hard-a-lee ! ” shouted Jasper, letting fly the jib- sheet with 
his own hands when the cutter came’ swiftly up fo the breeze 
with all her convas flapping, or was running into the wind’s eye 
as seamen terms it, until the light craft was a hundred feet to 
windward of her former position. Quick and dexterous as was 
this movement, and ready as had been the expedient, it w^as 
not quicker or more ready than that of the Tuscarora. With 
an intelligence that denoted some familiarity with vessels, he 
had seized his paddle, and was already skimming the water, 
aided by the efforts of his wife. The direction he took was 
southwesterly, or on a line that led him equally toward the wind 
and the shore, while it also kept him so far aloof from the 
cutter as to avoid the danger of the latter’s falling on board of 
him when she filled on the other tack. Swiftly as the Scud had 
shot into the wind, and far as she had forged ahead, Jasper 
knew it was necessary to cast her, ere she had lost all her way ; 
and it was not two minutes from the time the helm had beer* 
put down, before the lively little craft was aback forward, and 
rapidly falling off, in order to allow her sails to fill in the op- 
posite tack. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


201 


“ He will escape said Jasper, the instant he caught a 
glimpse of the relative bearings of the cutter and the canoe. 
“ The cunning knave is paddling dead to windward, and the 
Scud can never overtake him ! ” 

“ You have a canoe ! ” exclaimed the sergeant, manifesting 
the eagerness of a boy to join in the pursuit ; “ let us launch it 
and give chase ! ” 

“ ’Twill be useless. If Pathfinder had been on deck there 
might have been a chance, but there is none now. To launch 
the canoe would have taken three or four minutes, and the 
time lost would have been sufficient for the purpose of Arrow- 
head.” 

Both Cap and the sergeant saw the truth of this, which 
would have been nearly self-evident even to one unaccustomed 
to vessels. The shore was distant less than half a mile, and 
the canoe was already glancing into its shadows at a rate to 
show that it would reach the land ere its pursuers could pro- 
bably get half the distance. The canoe, itself, could be seized, 
but it would have been a useless prize : for Arrowhead in the 
woods would be more likely to reach the other shore without 
detection than if he still possessed the means to venture on 
the lake again : though it might be and probably would be, a 
greater bodily labor, to himself. The helm of the Scud was 
reluctantly put up again, and the cutter wore short round on 
her heel, coming up to her course on the other tack as if acting 
on instinct. All this was done by Jasper in profound silence, 
his assistants understanding what was necessary, and lending 
their aid in a sort of mechanical imitation. While these 
manoenveres were in the course of execution. Cap took the 
sergeant by the button and led him toward the cabin-door, 
where he was out of ear-shot, and began to unlock his stores 
of thought. 

‘‘ Harkee, brother Dunham,” he said, with an ominous face, 
“ this is a matter that requires mature thought and much cir- 
cumspection.” 

The life of a soldier, brother Cap, is one of constant 
thought and circumspection. On the frontier, were we to 
overlook either, our scalps might be taken from our heads in 
the first nap.” 

“ But I consider this capture of Arrowhead as a circumstance 
and I might add his escape as another. This Jasper Fresh- 
water must look to it ! ” 

“ They are both circumstances, truly, brother ; but they tell 
different ways. If it is a circumstance against the lad that the 


^02 


THE PA THFINDER. 


Indian had escaped, it is a circumstance in his favor that he 
was first taken.” 

“ Ay, ay, but two circumstances do not contradict each 
other like two negatives. If you will follow the advice of an 
old seaman, sergeant, not a moment is to be lost in taking the 
steps necessary for the security of the vessel and all on board 
of her. The cutter is now slipping through the water at the 
rate of six knots, and, as the distance are so short on this bit 
of a pond, we may all find ourselves in a French port before 
morning, and in a French prison before night.” 

“ This may be true enough ; what would you advise me to 
do, brother ? ” 

“ In my opinion you should put this Master Fresh-water 
under arrest on the spot, send him below under the charge of 
a sentinel, and transfer the command of the cutter to me. All 
this you have power to perform, the craft belonging to the army, 
and you being the commanding officer of the troops present.” 

Sergeant Dunham deliberated more than an hour on the pro- 
priety of this proposal ; for, though sufficiently prompt wffien 
his mind was really made up, he was habitually thoughtful and 
wary. The habit of superintending the personal police of the 
garrison had made him acquainted with character, and he had 
long been disposed to think well of Jasper. Still, that subtle 
poison, suspicion, had entered his soul, and so much were the 
artifices and intrigues of the French dreaded, that, especially 
warned as he had been by his commander, it is not to be 
wondered the recollection of years of good conduct should 
vanish under the influence of a distrust so keen and seemingly 
plausible. In this embarrassment the sergeant consulted the 
quartermaster, whose opinion, as his superior, he felt bound to 
respect, though, at the moment, independent of his control. It 
is an unfortunate occurrence, for one who is in a dilemma, to 
ask advice of another who is desirous of standing well in his 
favor, the party consulted being almost certain to try to think 
in the manner which will be the most agreeble to the party 
consulting. In the present instance it was equally unfortunate, 
as respects a candid consideration of the subject, that Cap, in- 
stead of the sergeant himself, made the statement of the case ; . 
for the earnest old sailor was not backward in letting his listener 
perceive to which side he was desirous that the quartermaster 
should lean. Lieutenant Muir was much too polite to offend 
the uncle and father of the woman he hoped and expected to 
win, had he really thought the case admitted of doubt ; but, in 
the manner in which the facts were submitted to him, he was 


THE PATHFINDER. 


203 

seriously inclined to think that it would be well to put the con- 
trol of the Scud, temporarily, into the mannagement of Cap, 
as a precaution against treachery. This opinion then decided 
the sergeant, who forthwith set about the execution of the nec- 
essary measures. 

Without entering into any explanations, Sergeant Dunham 
simply informed Jasper that he felt it to be his duty to deprive 
him, temporarily, of the command of the cutter, and to confer 
it on his own brother-in-law. A natural and involuntary burst 
of surprise which escaped the young man, was met by a quiet 
remark reminding him that military service was often of a nature 
that required concealment, and a declaration that the present 
duty was of such a character that this particular arrangement 
had become indispensable. Although Jasper’s astonishment re- 
mained undiminished — the sergeant cautiously abstaining from 
making any allusion to his suspicions — the young man was ac- 
customed to obey with military submisson; and he quietly 
acquiesced — with his own mouth directing the little crew to re- 
ceive their further orders from Cap until another change should 
be effected. When, however, he was told the case required 
that not only he himself, but his principal assistant, who, on 
account of his long acquaintance with the lake, was usually 
termed the pilot, were to remain below, there was an alteration 
in his countenance and manner that denoted deep mortification, 
though it was so well mastered as to leave even the distrustful 
Cap in doubt as to its meaning. As a matter of course, however, 
when distrust exists, it was not long before the worst construc- 
tion was put upon it. 

As soon as Jasper and the pilot were below, the sentinel at 
the hatch received private orders to pay particular attention to 
both ; to allow neither to come on deck again without giving 
instant notice to the person who might then be in charge of the 
cutter, and to insist on his return below as soon as possible. 
This precaution, however, was uncalled for, Jasper and his assist- 
ant both throwing themselves silently on their pallets, which 
neithei quitted again that night. 

“ And now, sergeant,” said Cap, as soon as he found him- 
self master of the deck, you will just have the goodness to 
give me the courses and distances, that I may see the boat 
keeps her head the right way.” 

“ I know nothing of either, brother Cap,” returned Dunham, 
not a little embarrassed at the question. “ We must make the 
best of our way to the station among the Thousand Islands, 

‘ where we shall land, relieve the party that is already out. and 


THE PATHFINDER. 


204 

get information for our future government.’ That’s it, nearlv 
word for word, as it stands in the written orders.” 

“ But you can muster a chart something in the way of 
bearings and distances, that I may see the road ? ” 

“ I do not think Jasper ever had anything of the sort to 
go by.” 

“ No chart, Sergeant Dunham ! ” 

“ Not a scrap of a pen even. Our sailors navigate this lake 
without any aid from maps.” 

“The devil they do ! — They must be regular Yahoos. And 
do you suppose. Sergeant Dunham, that I can find one island 
out of a thousand without knowing its name or its position — 
without even a course or a distance ^ ” 

“ As for the name, brother Cap, you need not be particular, 
for not one of the whole thousand ^as a name, and so a mis- 
take can never be made on that score. As for the position, 
never having been there myself, I can tell you nothing about 
it, nor do I think its position of any particular consequence, 
provided we find the spot. Perhaps one of the hands on deck 
can tell you the way.” 

“ Hold on, sergeant — hold on a moment, if you please. Ser- 
geant Dunham. If I am to command this craft, it must be done, 
ifyou please, without holding any councils of war with the cook 
and cabin-boy. A shipmaster is a shipmaster, and he must have 
an opinion of his own, even if it be a wrong one. I suppose you 
know service well enough to understand that it is better in a 
commander to go wrong, than to go nowhere. At all events, the 
lord high admiral couldn’t command a yawl, with dignity, if he 
consulted the coxswain every time he wished to go ashore. No 

— sir — if I sink, I sink ; but, d e. I’ll go down ship-shape 

and with dignity.” 

“ But, brother Cap, I have no wish to go down anywhere, 
unless it be to the station among the Thousand Islands, whither 
we are bound.” 

“ Well, well, sergeant, rather than ask advice, that is, direct 
barefaced advice, of a foremast hand, or any other than a quar- 
ter-deck officer, I would go round to the whole thousand and 
examine them one by one, until we got the right haven. But, 
there is such a thing as coming at an opinion without manifest- 
ing ignorance, and I will manage to rouse all there is, out of 
these hands, and make them think, all the while, that I am 
cramming them with my own experience. We are sometimes 
obliged to use the glass at sea when there is nothing in sight, 
or to heave the lead long before we strike soundings. I sup 


THE PATHFINDER. 


205 

pose you know in the army, sergeant, that the next thing to know* 
ing that which is desirable is to seem to know all about it. 
When a youngster, I sailed two v’y’ges with a man who navb 
gated his ship pretty much by the latter sort of information, 
which sometimes answers.” 

“ I know we are steering in the right direction at present,” 
returned the sergeant, “ but in the course of a few hours we 
shall be up with a headland, where we must feel our way with 
more caution.” 

“ Leave me to pump the man at the wheel, brother, and you 
shall see that I will make him suck, in a very few minutes.” 

Cap and the sergeant now walked aft, until they stood by 
the sailor who was at the helm. Cap maintaining an air of se- 
curity and tranquillity, like one who was entirely confident of 
his own powers. 

“ This is a wholesome air, my lad,” Cap observed, as it might 
be incidentally, and in a manner that a superior on board a 
vessel sometimes condescends to use to a favorite inferior. “ Of 
course you have it in this fashion, off the land, every night ? ” 

“ At this season of the year, sir,” the man returned, touch- 
ing his hat, out of respect to his new commander and Sergeant 
Dunhams’s connection. 

“ The same thing, I take it, among the Thousand Islands ? 
The wind will stand of course, though we shall then have land 
on every side of us.” 

“When we get farther east, sir, the wind will probably 
shift, for there can then be no particular land breeze.” 

“ Ay, ay — so much for your fresh water ! It has always some 
trick that is opposed to Nature. Now, down among the West 
India Islands, one is just as certain of having a land breeze as 
he is of having a sea-breeze. In that respect there is no dif- 
ference, though it’s quite in rule it should be different up here, 
on this bit of fresh water. Of course, my lad, you know all 
about these Thousand Islands ? ” 

“Lord bless you. Master Cap, nobody knows all about 
them, nor anything about them. They are a puzzle to the old- 
est sailor on the lake, and we don’t pretend to know even their 
names. For that matter, most of them have no more names 
than a child that dies before it is christened.” 

“ Are you a Roman Catholic ” demanded the sergeant, 
sharply. 

“ No, sir, nor anything else, I’m a generalizer about re- 
ligion, never troubling that which don’t trouble me.” 

“ Hum ! a generalizer ; that is, no doubt, one of the new 


THE PATHFINDER. 


£o6 

sects that afflict the country ! ” muttered Mr. Dunham, whose 
grandfather had been a New Jersey Quaker, his father a Pres- 
byterian, and who had joined the Church of England himself, 
after he entered the army. 

“I take it, John,” resumed Cap — “your name is Jack, I 
believe ? ” 

“No, sir; I am called Robert.” 

“ Ah, Robert — it’s very much the same thing — Jack or Bob 
— we use the two indifferently. I say, Bob, it’s good holding- 
ground, is it, down at the same station for which we are 
bound ? ” 

“ Bless you, sir, 1 know no more about it, than one of the 
Mohawks, or a soldier of the 5 Sth.” 

“ Did you never anchor there ? ” 

“ Never, sir. Master Eau-douce always makes fast to the 
shore.” 

“ But in running in for the town, you kept the lead going, 
out of question, and must have tallowed as usual t ” 

“ Tallow ! and town, too ! Bless your heart. Master Cap, 
there is no more town than there is on your chin, and not half 
as much tallow.” 

The sergeant smiled grimly, but his brother-in-law did not 
detect this proof of facetiousness. 

“ No church-tower, nor light, nor fort, ha ! There is a gar- 
rison, as you call it hereaway, at least.” 

“ Ask Sergeant Dunham, sir, if you wish to know that ! 
All the garrison is on board the Scud.” 

“ But, in running in. Bob, which of the channels do you 
think the best, the one you went last, or — or — or — ay, or the 
other "i ” 

“ I can’t say, sir. I know nothing of either.” 

“You didn’t go to sleep, fellow, at the wheel, did you ? ” 

“ Not at the wheel, sir, but down in the forespeak, in my 
berth. Eau-douce sent us below, so’gers and all, with the ex- 
ception of the pilot, and we know no more of the road than if 
we had never been over it. This he has always done, in going 
in and coming out ; and, for the life of me, I could tell you 
nothing of the channel or of the course, after we are once fairly 
up with the islands. No one knows anything of either, but 
Jasper and the pilot.” 

“ Here is a circumstance for you, sergeant ! ” said Cap, 
leading his brother-in-law a little way aside — “ there is no one 
on board to pump, for they all suck from ignorance, at the first 


THE PA THFINDER, 


207 

Stroke of the brake. How the devil am I to find the way to 
this station ? ” 

“ Sure enough, brother Cap ; your question is more easily 
put than answered. Is there no such thing as figuring it out 
by navigation ? I thought you sal -water mariners were able 
to do as small a thing as that ! I have often read of their dis- 
covering islands, surely.’’ 

“ That you have, brother — that you have ; and this discovery 
would be the greatest of them all, for it would not only be dis- 
covering one island, but one island out of a thousand. I might 
make out to pick up a single needle on this deck, old as I am ; 
but I must doubt if I could pick one out of a haystack.” 

“ Still the sailors of the lake have a method of finding the 
places they wish to go to.” 

“ If I have understood you, Seargeant Dunham, this station, 
or block-house, is particularly private ? ” 

“ It is, indeed ; the utmost care having been taken to pre- 
vent a knowledge of its position reaching the enemy.” 

“ And you expect me, a stranger on your lake, to find this 
place without chart, course, distance, latitude, longitude or 

soundings — ay, d e, or tallow ! Allow me to ask if you 

think a mariner runs by his nose, like one of Pathfinder’s 
hounds ? ” 

“ Well, brother, you may yet learn something by question- 
ing the young man at the helm ; I can hardly think that he 
is as ignorant as he pretends to be.” 

“ Hum — this looks like another circumstance ! For that 
matter, the case is getting to be so full of circumstances that 
one hardly knows how to foot up the evidence. But we will 
-soon see how much the lad knows.” 

Cap and the sergeant now returned to their station near the 
helm, and the former renewed his inquiries. 

“ Do you happen to know what may be the latitude and 
longitude of this said island, my lad t ” he asked. 

“ The what, sir ? ” 

“Why the latitude or longitude; one or both; I’m not 
particular which, as I merely inquire to see how they bring up 
young men on this bit of fresh water.” 

“ I’m not particular about either, myself, sir, and so I do 
not happen to know what you mean.” 

“ Not v^hat I mean ! — You know what latitude is } ” 

“ Not I, sir,” returned the man, hesitating, “ though I 
believe it is French for the upper lakes.” 

“ Whe-e-e*w ! ” whistled Cap, drawing out his breath, like 


2o8 


THE PATHFINDER. 


the broken stop of an organ ; “ latitude, French for uppei 
lakes ! Harkee, young man ; do you know what longitude 
means ? ” 

“ I believe I do, sir — that is five feet six, the regulation 
height for soldiers in the king’s service.” 

“ There’s the longitude found out for you, sergeant, in the 
rattling of a brace-block ! You have some notion about a 
degree, and minutes, and seconds, I hope ? ” 

“ Yes, sir ; degree means my betters, and minutes and 
seconds are for the short or long log-lines. We all know these 
things as well as the salt-water people.” 

“ D e, brother Dunham, if 1 think even Faith can gel 

along on this lake, much as they say it can do with mountains. 
I’m sure character is in no security. Well, my lad, you under- 
stood the azimuth, and measuring distances, and how to box 
the compass.” 

“ As for the first, sir, I can’t say I do. The distances we 
all know, as we measure them from point to point ; and as foi 
boxing the compass, I will turn my back to no admiral in his 
majesty’s fleet. Nothe-nothe and by east, nothe-nothe-east, 
nothe-east and nothe, nothe-east ; nothe-east and by east, east- 
nothe-east, east-and-by-nothe, east ” 

“That will do — that will do. You’ll bring about a shift of 
wind, if you go on in this manner. I see very plainly, sergeant,” 
walking away again, and dropping his voice, “ we’ve nothing to 
hope for from that chap. I’ll stand on two hours longer on 
this tack, when we’ll heave-to, and get the soundings : after 
which we will be governed by circumstances.” 

To this the sergeant, who, to coin a word, was very much of 
an idiosyncratist, made no objections ; and, as the wind grew 
lighter, as usual with the advance of night, and there were no 
immediate obstacles to the navagation, he made a bed of a 
sail, on deck, and was soon lost in the sound sleep of a soldier. 
Cap continued to walk the deck, for he was one whose iron 
frame set fatigue at defiance, and not once that night did he 
close his eyes. 

It was broad daylight when Sergeant Dunham awoke, and 
the exclamation of surprise that escaped him, as he rose to his 
feet, and began to look about him, was stronger than it was 
usual for one so drilled to suffer to be heard. He found the 
weather entirely changed ; the view bounded by driving mist, 
that limited the visible horizon to a circle of about a mile in 
diameter, the lake raging and covered with foam, and the Scud 


THE FA THFINDER. 


209 

lying-to. A brief conversation with his brother-in-law let him 
into the secrets of all these sudden changes. 

According to the account of Master Cap, the wind had died 
away to a calm about midnight, or just as he was thinking ol 
heaving-to, to sound, for islands ahead were beginning to b© 
seen. At one a. m. it began to blow from the northeast, accom- 
panied by a drizzle, and he stood off to the northward and 
westward, knowing that the coast of New York lay in the 
opposite direction. At half-past one he stowed the stay-sail, 
reefed the main sail, and took the bonnet off the jib. At two 
he was compelled to get a second reef aft ; and by half-past 
two he had put a balance reef in the sail, and was lying-to. 

“ I can’t say but the boat behaves well, sergeant,” the old 
sailor added ; “ but it blows forty-two pounders ! I had no 
idee there were any such currents of air up here on this bit 0/ 
fresh W'ater, though 1 care not the knotting of a yarn for it, as 
your lake has now somewhat of a natural look, and ” — spitting 
from his mouth, with distaste, a dash of the spray that had just 

wetted his face — “ and if this d d water had a savor of salt 

about it, one might be comfortable.” 

“How long have you been heading in this direction, brother 
Cap ? ” inquired the prudent soldier ; “ and at what rate may 
we be going through the water ? ” 

“ Why two or three hours, mayhap, and she went like a 
horse for the first pair of them. Oh ! we've a fine offing, now, 
for, to own the truth, little relishing the neighborhood of them 
said islands, although they are to windward, I took the helm 
myself, and run her off free for some league or tw^o. We are 
w^ell to leew^ard of them. I’ll engage. I say to leeward, for, 
though one might wish to be w’ell to windward of one island, or 
even half a dozen, when it comes to a thousand, the better way 
:s to give it up at once, and to slide down under their lee as 
fast as possible. No — no — there they are, up yonder in the 
drizzle — and there they may stay, for anything Charles Cap 
cares.” 

“ As the north shore lies only some five or six leagues from 
as, brother, and I know there is. a large bay in that quarter, 
might it not be well to consult some of the crew concerning 
our position, if indeed we do not call up Jasper Eau-douce, and 
tell him to carry us back to Oswego ? It is quite impossible 
we should ever reach the station with this wind directly in ou! 
teeth.” 

There are several serious professional reasons, sergeant^ 


210 


THE PATHFINDER, 


against all your propositions. In the first place, an admission 
of ignorance on the part of a commander would destroy discip- 
line. No matter, brother, I understand your shake of the head, 
but nothing capsizes discipline so much, as to confess ignor* 
ance. I once knew a master of a vessel who went a week on a 
wrong course, rather than allow he had made a mistake ; and 
it was surprising how much he rose in the opinions of his 
people, just because they could not understand him.” 

“ That may do on salt water, brother Cap ; but it will 
hardly do on fresh. Rather than wreck my command on the 
Canada shore, I shall feel it my duty to take Jasper out of ar 
rest.” 

“ And make a haven in Frontenac ! No, sergeant, the 
Scud is in good hands, and will now learn something of sea- 
manship. We have a fine offing, and no one but a madman 
would think of going upon a coast in a gale like this. I shall 
wear every watch, and then we shall be safe against all dangers 
but those of the drift, which, in a light, low craft like this, with- 
out top hamper, will be next to nothing. Leave it all to me, 
sergeant, and I pledge you the character of Charles Cap that it 
will all go well.” 

Sergeant Dunham was fain to yield. He had great confi- 
dence in his connection’s skill, and hoped th^t he would take 
such care of the cutter as would amply justify his good opinion. 
On the other hand, as distrust, like love, grows by what it feeds 
on, he entertained so much apprehension of treachery that he 
was quite willing any one but Jasper should, just then, have the 
control of the fate o^ the whole party. Truth, moreover, com- 
pels us to admit another motive. The particular duty on which 
he was now sent should have been confided to a commissioned 
officer, of right ; and Major Duncan had excited a good deal of 
discontent among the subalterns of the garrison, by having 
confided it to one of the sergeant’s humble station. To return 
without having even reached the point of destination, therefore, 
the latter felt would be a failure from which he w^as not likely 
soon to recover ; and the measure would, at once, be theraeang 
of placing a superior in his shoes. 


THE PATHFINDEE, 


211 


/ 


CHAPTER XVI. 

"Thou glorious mirror where the Almighty’s form 
Glasses itself in tempests — in all time, 

Calm or convulsed — in breeze, or gale, or storm. 

Icing the pole, or in the torrid clime 

Dark heaving — boundless, endless, and sublime— 

The image of Eternity; the throne 
' Of the Invisible ; even from out thy slime 
The monsters of the deep are made ; each zone 
Obeys thee ; thou goest forth, dread, fathomless, alone.” 

— Byron. 

As the day advanced, that portion of the inmates of the 
Vessel which had the liberty of doing so, appeared on deck. 
And yet the sea was not very high, from which it was inferred 
that the cutter was still under the lee of the islands ; but it 
was apparent to all who understood the lake, that they were 
about to experience one of the heavy autumnal gales of that 
region. Land was nowhere visible ; and the horizon, on every 
side, exhibited that gloomy void which lends to all views on 
vast bodies of water the sublimity of mystery. The swells, or, 
as landsmen term them, the waves, were short and curling, 
breaking of necessity sooner than the longer seas of the ocean ; 
while the element itself, instead of presenting that beautiful 
hue which rivals the deep tint of the southern sk}^, looked gi'een 
and angr}', though wanting in the lustre that is derived from 
the rays of the sun. 

The soldiers were soon satisfied with the prospects, and one 
by one they disappeared, until none were left on deck but the 
crew, the sergeant. Cap, Pathfinder, the quartermaster, and 
Mabel. There was a shade on the brow of the latter, who had 
been made acquainted with the real state of things, and who 
had fruitlessly ventured an appeal in favor of Jasper’s restora- 
tion to the command. A night’s rest and a night’s reflection 
appeared also to have confirmed* the Pathfinder in his opin- 
ion of the young man’s innocence, and he, too, had made a 
warm appeal in behalf of his friend, though with the same want 
of success. 

Several hours passed away, the wind gradually getting to 
be heavier, and the sea rising, until the motion of the cutter 
compelled Mabel and the quartermaster to retreat also. Cap 
wore several times ; and it was now evident that the Scud was 


212 


THE PA THFINDER. 


drifting into the broader and deeper parts of the lake, the sea9 
raging down upon her in a way that none but a vessel of supe^ 
rior mould and build could have long ridden and withstood. All 
this, however, gave Cap no uneasiness ; but like the hunter 
that pricks his ears at the sound of the horn, or the war-horse 
that paws and snorts with pleasure at the roll of the drum, the 
whole scene awakened all that was man within him ; and in- 
stead of the captious, supercilious, and dogmatic critic quarrel- 
ling with trifles, and exaggerating immaterial things, he began 
to exhibit the qualities of the hardy and experienced seaman 
that he truly was. The hands soon imbibed a respect for his 
skill ; and though they wondered at the disappearance of their 
old commander and the pilot for which no reason had been 
publicly given, they soon yielded an implicit and cheerful 
obedience to the new one. 

“ This bit of fresh water, after all, brother Dunham, has 
some spirits, I find,” cried Cap, about noon, rubbing his hands 
in pure satisfaction at finding himself once more wrestling with 
the elements. “The wind seems to be an honest, old-fashioned 
gale, and the seas have a fanciful resemblance to those of the 
Gulf Stream, I like this, sergeant, I like this ; and shall get 
to respect your lake if it hold out twenty-four hours longer in 
the fashion in which it has begun.” 

“ Land ho ! ” shouted the man who was stationed on the 
forecastle. 

Cap hurried forward ; and there sure enough the land was 
visij^le through the drizzle, at the distance of about half a mile, 
the cutter heading directly toward it. The first impulse of the 
old seaman was to give an order to “ stand by, to wear off 
shore ; ” but the cool-headed soldier restrained him. 

“ By going a little nearer,” said the sergeant, “ some of us 
may recognize the place. Most of us know the American 
shore in this part of the lake ; and it will be something gained 
to learn our position.” 

“Very true — very true ; if, indeed, there is any chance of 
that, we will hold on. What is this off here, a little on our 
weather bow .? It looks like a low headland.” 

“ The garrison, by Jove ! ’’ exclaimed the other, whose trained 
eye sooner recognized the military outlines than the less in- 
structed senses of his connection. 

The sergeant was not mistaken. There was the for;, sure 
enough, though it looked dim and indistinct through the fine 
rain, as if it were seen in the dusk of evening or the haze ot 
morning. The low, sodden, and verdant ramparts, the sombre 


THE PATHFINDER, 


213 

palisades, now darker than ever with water, the roof of a 
house or two, the tall, solitary flag-stalf, with its halyards blown 
steadily out, into a curve that appeared traced in immovable 
lines in the air, were all soon to be seen, though no sign of an- 
imated life could be discovered. Even the sentinel was housed ; 
and at first it was believed that no eye could detect the presence 
of their own vessel. But the unceasing vigilance of a border 
garrison did not slumber. One of the lookouts probably made 
the interesting discovery ; a man or two were seen on some 
elevated stands, and then the entire ramparts, next the lake, 
were dotted with human beings. 

The whole scene was one in which sublimity was singularly 
relieved by the picturesque. The raging of the tempest had a 
character of duration that rendered it easy to imagine that it might 
be a permanent feature of the spot. The roar of the wind was 
without intermission, and the raging water answered, to its dull 
but grand strains, with hissing spray, a menacing wash, and 
sullen surges. The drizzle made a medium for the eye which 
closely resembled that of a thm mist, softening and rendering 
mysterious the images it revealed, while the genial feeling that 
is apt to accompany a gale of wind on water contributed to aid 
the milder influences of the moment. The dark, interminable 
forest hove up out of the obscurity, grand, sombre, and im- 
pressive ; while the solitary, peculiar and picturesque glimpses 
of life that were caught in and about the fort, formed a refuge 
for the eye to* retreat to, when oppressed with the most im- 
posing objects of Nature. 

“ They see us,” said the sergeant, “ and think we have re- 
turned on account of the gale, and have fallen to leeward of the 
port. Yes, there is Major Duncan himself, on the northeastern 
bastion ; I know him by his height, and by the officers around 
him ! ” 

“ Sergeant, it would be worth standing a little jeering, if we 
could fetch into the river, and come safely to an anchor ! In 
that case, too, we might land this Master Oh !-the-deuce, and 
purify the boat.” 

“It would indeed ; but poor a sailor as I am, I well know 
it cannot be done. Nothing that sails the lake can turn to 
windward against this gale ; and there is no anchorage outside, 
in weather like this ” 

“ I know it — I see it — sergeant, and pleasant as is that sight 
to you landsmen, we must leave it. For myself, I am never as 
happy, in heavy weather, as when I am certain that the land is 
behind me.” 


114 


THE PA THFINDER. 


The Scud had no\< forged so near in, that it became indis^ 
pensable to lay her head olf-shore again, and the necessary 
orders were given. The storm-staysail was set forward, the 
gaft lowered, the helm put up, and the light craft that seemed 
to sport with the elements like a duck, fell olf a little, drew 
ahead swiftly, obeyed her rudder, and was soon flying away on 
the top of the surges, dead before the gale. While making this 
rapid flight, though the land still remained in view on her lar- 
board beam, the fort, and the groups of anxious spectators on 
its rampart, were swallowed up in the mist. Then followed the 
evolutions necessary to bring the head of the cutter up to the 
wind, when she again began to wallow her weary way toward 
the north shore. 

Hours now passed before any further change was made, 
the wind increasing in force, until even the dogmatical Cap 
fairly admitted it was blowing a thorough gale of wind. About 
sunset the Scud wore again, to keep her off the north shore 
during the hours of darkness ; and at midnight her temporary 
master, who, by questioning the crew in an indirect manner, 
had obtained some general knowledge of the size and shape of 
the lake, believed himself to be about midway between the two 
shores. The height and length of the seas aided this impres- 
sion ; and it must be added that Cap, by this time, began to 
feel a respect for fresh water, that twenty-four hours earlier he 
would have derided as impossible. Just as the night turned, 
the fury of the wind became so great that he found it impossible 
to bear up against it, the water falling on the deck of the little 
craft in such masses as to cause her to shake to the centre, 
and, though a vessel of singularly lively qualities, to threaten, 
to bury her beneath its weight. The people of the Scud averred 
that never before had they been out in such a tempest, which 
was true ; for, possessing a perfect knowledge of all the rivers 
and headlands and havens, Jasper would have carried the cut- 
ter in shore, long ere this and placed her in safety, in some 
secure anchorage But Cap still disdained to consult the young 
master, who continued below, determining to act like a mariner 
of the broad ocean. 

It was one in the morning when the storm-staysail was again 
got on the Scud, the head of the mainsail lowered, and the cut- 
ter put before the wind. Although the canvas now exposed 
was merely a rag in surface, the little craft nobly justified the 
use of the name she bore. For eight hours did she scud, in 
truth ; and it was almost with the velocity of the gulls that 
wheeled wildly over her in the tempest, apparently afraid ta 


THE FA THFINDER. 


215 

alight in the boiling caldron of the lake. The dawn of day 
brought little change : for no other horizon became visible than 
the narrow circle of drizzling sky and water already described, 
in which it seemed as if the elements were rioting in chaotic 
confusion. During this time the crew and passengers of the 
cutter were of necessity passive. Jasper and the pilot remained 
below ; but the motion of the vessel having become easier, 
nearly all the rest were on deck. The morning meal had been 
taken in silence, and eye met eye as if their owners asked each 
other, in dumb show, what was to be the end of this strife in 
the elements. Cap, however, was perfectly composed, and his 
face brightened, his step grew firmer, and his whole air more 
assured as the storm increased, making larger demands on his 
professional skill and personal spirit. He stood on the fore- 
castle, his arms crossed, balancing his body with a seaman’s 
instinct, while his eyes watched the caps of the seas as they 
broke and glanced past the reeling cutter, itself in such swift 
motion as if they were the scud flying athwart the sky. At 
this sublime instant one of the hands gave the unexpected cry 
of “ a sail ! ” 

There was so much of the wild and solitary character of the 
wilderness about Ontario that one scarcely expected to meet 
with a vessel on its waters. The Scud herself, to those who 
were in her, resembled a man threading the forest alone, and 
the meeting was like that of two solitary hunters beneath the 
broad canopy of leaves that then covered so many millions of 
acres on the continent of America. The peculiar state of the 
weather served to increase the romantic, almost supernatural, 
appearance of the passage. Cap alone regarded it with prac- 
tised eyes, and even he felt his iron nerves thrill under the sen- 
sations that were awakened by the wild features of the scene. 

The strange vessel was about two cables’ length ahead of 
the Scud, standing by the wind athwart her bows, and steering 
a course to render it probable that the latter would pass within 
a few yards of her. She was a full-rigged ship ; and, seen 
through the misty medium of the tempest, the most experienced 
eye could detect no imperfection in her gear or construction. 
The only canvas she had set was a close-reefed main-topsail 
and two small storm-staysails, one forward and the other aft. 
Still, the power of the wind pressed so hard upon her as to bear 
her down nearly to her beam-ends, whenever the hull was not 
righted by the buoyancy of some wave under her lee. Her 
spars were all in their places^ and by her motion through the 


2i6 


THE PA THFINDER. 


water, which might have equalled four knots in the hour, it | 
was apparent that she steered a little free. j| 

“ The fellow must know his position well,” said Cap, as the 
cutter flew down toward the ship with a velocity almost equal- ' 
ling that of the gale, “for he is standing boldly to the south- ‘ i 
ward, where he expects to find anchorage or a haven. No man | 
in his senses would run off free in that fashion, that was not | 
driven to scudding like ourselves, who did not perfectly under- i 
stand where he was going.” 

“We have made an awful run, captain,” returned the man i 
to whom this remark had been addressed. “ That is the French 
king's ship, Leemy-calm (le Montcalm), and she is standing in 
for the Niagara, where her owner has a garrison and a port. 
We’ve made an awful run of it ! ” 

“ Ay, bad luck to him ! Frenchman-like, he skulks into 
port the moment he sees- an English bottom.” 

“ It might be well for us if we could follow him,” returned ,| 
the man, shaking his head despondingly, “for we are getting | 
into the end of a bay up here at the head of the lake, and it is j 
uncertain whether we ever get out of it again ! ” 

“ Poh ! man, poh ! We have plenty of sea-room, and a 
good English hull beneath us. We are no Johnny Crapauds 
to hide ourselves behind a point or a fort, on account of a puff 
of wind. Mind your helm, sir ! ” 

The order was given on account of the menacing appear- 
ance of the approaching passage. The Scud was now heading 
directly for the forefoot of the Frenchman : and, the distance 
between the two vessels having diminished to a hundred yards, 
it was momentarily questionable if there was room to pass. 

“ Port, sir — port ! ” shouted Cap. “ Port your helm and : 
pass astern ! ” 

The crew of the Frenchman were seen assembling to wind- 
ward, and a few muskets were pointed, as if to order the peo- 
ple of the Scud to keep off. Gesticulations were observed, ^ 
but the sea was too wild and menacing to admit of the ordinary \ 
expedients of war. The water was dripping from the muzzles 
of two or three light guns onboard the ship, but no one thought v 
of loosening them for service in such a tempest. Her black ^ 
sides, as they emerged from the wave, glistened and seemed to J 
frown, but the wind howled through her rigging, whistling the ix 
thousand notes of a ship : and the hails and cries that escape 
a Frenchman with so much readiness, were inaudible. 

“ Let him halloo himself hoarse ! ” growled Cap. “ This is 
no weather to whisper secrets in — Port, sir, port 1 ” ^ 


THE PA THFINDER. 


217 

The man at the helm obeyed, and the next send of the sea 
drove the Scud down upon the quarter of the ship, so near her 
that the old mariner himself recoiled a step, in a vague expec- 
tation that, at the next surge ahead, she would drive bows fore- 
most into the planks of the other vessel. But this was not to 
be. Rising from the crouching posture she had taken, like a 
panther about to leap, the cutter dashed onward, and, at the 
next instant, she was glancing past the stern of her enemy, just 
clearing the end of her spanker-boom with her own lower yard. 

The young Frenchman who commanded the Montcalm 
leaped on the taffrail, and with that high-toned courtesy which 
relieves the worst acts of his countrymen, he raised his cap, 
and smiled a salutation as the Scud shot past. There were 
bonhommie and good taste in this act of courtesy, when circum- 
stances allowed of no other communication ; but they were lost 
on Cap, who, with an instinct quite as true to his race, shook 
his fist menacingly, and muttered to himself : 

“Ay — ay — it’s d d lucky for you I’ve no armaments on 

board there, or I’d send you in to get new cabin-windows fitted ! 
— Sergeant, he’s a humbug.” 

“ ’Twas civil, brother Cap,” returned the other, lowering 
his hand from the military salute which his pride as a soldier 
had induced him to return — “ ’twas civil, and that’s as much as 
you can expect from a Frenchman. What he really meant by 
it, no one can say.” 

“ He is not heading up to this sea without an object, 
neither ! Well, let him run in, if he can get there ; we will 
keep the lake, like hearty English mariners.” 

This sounded gloriously, but Cap eyed with envy the glitter- 
ing black mass of the Montcalm’s hull, her waving top-sail, and 
the misty tracery of her spars, as she grew less and less dis- 
tinct, and finally disappeared in the drizzle in a form as shadowy 
as that of some unreal image. Gladly would he have followed 
in her wake, had he dared ; for, to own the truth, the prospect 
of another stormy night in the midst of the wild waters that 
were raging around him, brought little consolation. Still, he 
had too much professional pride to betray his uneasiness, and 
those under his care relied on his knowledge and resources, 
with the implicit and blind confidence that the ignorant are apt 
to feel. 

A few hours succeeded, and darkness came again to in- 
crease the perils of the Scud. A lull in the gale, however, 
h^d induced Cap to come by the wind once more, and through- 
out the night the cutter was lying-to, as before, head-reaching 


THE PATHFINDER, 


?l8 

as a matter of course, and occasionally wearing to keep off the 
land. It is unnecessary to dwell on the incidents of the night, 
which resembled those of any other gale of wind. There were 
the pitching of the vessel, the hissing of the waters, the dashing 
of spray, the shocks that menaced annihilation to the little craft 
as she plunged into the sea, the undying bowlings of the wind, 
and the fearful drift. The last was the most serious danger ; for, , 
though exceeding weatherly under her canvass, and totally with- ' 
out top-hamper, the Scud was so light, that the combining of 
the swells would seem, at times, to wash her down to leeward 
with a velocity as great as that of the surges themselves. 

During this night Cap slept soundly and for several hours. 
The day was just dawning when he felt himself shaken by the , 
shoulder, and, arousing himself he found the Pathfinder stand- j 
ing at his side. During the gale, the guide had appeared little ■ 
on deck, for his natural modesty told him that seamen alone j 
should interfere with the management of the vessel ; and he 
was willing to show the same reliance on those who had charge 
of the Scud, as he expected those who followed through the 
forest to manifest in his own skill. But he now thought him- ' 
self justified in interfering, which he did in his own unsophisti- 
cated and peculiar manner. 

“ Sleep is sweet. Master Cap,” he said, as soon as the eyes 
of the latter were fairly open, and his consciousness had suffici- j 
ently returned — “ sleep is sweet, as I know from experience, ] 
but life is sweeter stiK. Look about you, and say if this is ex- ' 
actly the moment for a commander to be off his feet.” 

“ How now — how now. Master Pathfinder ! ” growled Cap, 
in the first moments of his awakened faculties ; “ are you, too, 
getting on the side of the grumblers When ashore, I admired 
your sagacity in running through the worst shoals without a 
compass, and since we have been afloat, your meekness and 
submission have been as pleasant as , your confidence on your 
own ground ; I little expected such a summons from you.” 

“ As for myself, Master Cap, I feel I have my gifts, and I 
believe they’ll interfere with those of no other man ; but the 
case may be different with Mabel Dunham. She has her gifts, 
too, it is true ; but. they are not rude like ours, but gentle and 
womanish, as they ought to be. It’s on her account that I 
speak, and not on my own.” ^ 

“ Ay — ay — I begin to understand. The girl is a good girl, ^ 
my worthy friend, but she is a soldier’s daughter and a sailor’s j 
niece, and ought not to be too tame or too tender in a gale, \ 
Does she show any fear ? ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


219 

** Not she — not she. Mabel is a woman, but she is reason- 
able and silent. Not a word have I heard from her concerning 
our doings ; though 1 think, Master Cap, she would like it bet- 
ter if Jasper Eau-douce were put into his proper place, and 
things were restored to their old situation, like. This is human 
natuT.” 

“ Ell warrant it ! Girl-like, and Dunham like, too. Any- 
thing is better than an old uncle, and everybody knows more 
-chan an old seaman. This is human natuE, Master Path- 
finder, and, d e, if I’m the man to sheer a fathom, star- 

board or port, for all the human natur’ that can be found in a 
minx of twenty — ay — orj” — lowering his voice a little — “ for all 
that can be paraded in his majesty’s 55th regiment of foot! I’ve 
not been at sea forty years to come up on this bit of fresh water 
to be taught human natur’. How this gale holds out ! It 
blows as hard, at this moment, as if Boreas had just clapped 
his hand upon the bellows. And what is all this to leeward 1 ” 
rubbing his eyes — “ land, as sure as my name is Cap ; and high- 
land, too I ” 

The Pathfinder made no immediate answer, but shaking his 
head, he watched the expression of his companion’s face, with 
a look of strong anxiety in his own. 

“ Land, as certain as this is the Scud ! ” repeated Cap, ‘‘ a 
lee-shore, and that, too, within a league of us, with as pretty a 
line of breakers as one could find on the beach of all Long 
Island ! ” 

“ And is that encouraging, or is it disheartening ? ” de- 
manded the Pathfinder. 

“Ha! encouraging, disheartening.? Why, neither. No, no 
— there is nothing encouraging about it ; and, as for disheart- 
ening, nothing ought to dishearten a seaman. You never get 
disheartened or afraid in the woods, my friend ? ” 

“ I’ll not say that — I’ll not say that. When the danger is 
great, it is my gift to see it, and know it, and to try to avoid it ; 
else would my scalp, long since, have been drying in a Mingo 
wigwam. On this lake, however, I can see no trail, and I feel 
it my duty to submit ; though I think we ought to remember 
there is such a person as Mabel Dunham on board. But here 
comes her father, and he will nat’rally feel for his own child.” 

“We are seriously situated, I believe, brother Cap,” said 
the sergeant, when he had reached the spot, “ by what I can 
gather from the two hands on the forecastle. They tell me the 
gutter cannot carry any more sail, and her drift is so great wf 


220 


THE PA THFINDER. 


shall go ashore in an hour or two. I hope their fears have de. 
ceived them.” 

Cap made no reply, but he gazed at the land with a rueful 
face, and then looked to windward, with an expression of fero- 
city, as if he would gladly have quarrelled with the weather. 

“ It may be well, brother,” the sergeant continued, “ to 
send for Jasper and consult him as to what is to be done. 
There are no French here to' dread, and, under all circum- 
stances, the boy will save us from drowning, if possible.” 

“ Ay — ay — his these cursed circumstances that have done 
all the mischief. But let the fellow come — let him come ; a 
few well-managed questions will bring the truth out of him, I’li 
warrant you.” 

This acquiescence on the part of the dogmatical Cap was 
no sooner obtained, than Jasper was sent for. The young man 
instantly made his appearance, his whole air, countenance 
and mien, expressive of mortification, humility, and, and as his 
observers fancied, rebuked deception. When he first stepped 
on deck, Jasper cast one hurried, anxious glance around, as if 
curious to know the situation of the cutter ; and that glance 
sufficed, it would seem, to let him into the secret of all her 
perils. At first he looked to windward, as is usual with every 
seaman, then he turned round the horizon, until his eyes caught 
a view of the highlands to leeward, when the whole truth burst 
upon him at once. 

“I’ve sent for you. Master Jasper,” said Cap, folding his 
arms, and balancing his body with the dignity of the forecastle, 
“ in order to learn something about the haven to leeward. We 
take it for granted you do not bear malice so hard as to wish 
to drown us all, especially the women ; and I suppose you will 
be man enough to help us to run the cutter into some safe berth 
until this bit of a gale has done blowing ? ” 

“ I would die myself rather than harm should come to Mabel 
Dunham,” the young man earnestly answered. 

“ I knew it ! I knew it ! ” cried the Pathfinder, clapping his 
hands kindly on Jasper’s shoulder. “ The lad is as true as the 
best compass that ever run a boundar}^, or brought a man off 
from a blind trail ? It is a moral sin to believe otherwise.” 

“ Humph ! ” ejaculated Cap, “ especially the women ! As 
if they were in any particular danger. Nevermind, young man, 
we shall understand each other by talking like two plain sea- 
men. Do you know of any port under our lee ? ” 

“ None. There is a large bay at the end of the lake, but i| 
is unknown to us all ; and not easy of entrance.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


221 


And this coast to leeward — it has nothing particular to ree- 
ommend it, I suppose.” 

“ It is a wilderness until you reach the mouth of the Niagara 
in one direction, and Frontenacin the other. North and west, 
they tell me, there is nothing but forest and prairies for a thou- 
sand miles.” 

“ Thank God, then, there can be no French ! Are there 
many savages, hereaway, on the land ? ” 

“ The Indians are to be found in all directions, though they 
are nowhere very numerous. By accident we might find a 
party at any point on the shore, or we might pass months there 
without seeing one.” 

“ We must take our chance, then, as to the blackguards— 
but, to be frank with you. Master Western — if this little un-' 
pleasant matter about the French had not come to pass, what 
would you now do with the cutter ? ” 

“ I am a much younger sailor than yourself. Master Cap,” 
said Jasper, modestly, “and am hardly fitted to advise you.” 

“ Ay — ay — we all know that. In a common case, perhaps 
not. But this is an uncommon case, and a circumstance ; and, 
on this bit of fresh water, it has what may be called its pecu- 
liarities ; and so, everything considered, you may be fitted to 
advise even your own father. At all events, you can speak, 
and I can judge of your opinions, agreeably to my own expe- 
rience.” 

“ I think, sir, before two hours are over, the cutter will have 
to anchor.” 

“Anchor ! — not out here, in the lake ? ” 

“No sir; but in yonder, near the land.” 

“ You do not mean to say, Master-Oh !-the deuce, you would 
anchor on a lee-shore, in a gale of wind ! ” 

“ If I would save my vessel, that is exactly what I would 
do. Master Cap.” 

“ Whe — e — e — w ! — this is fresh water, with a vengeance. 
Harkee, young man, I’ve been a seafaring animal, boy and 
man, forty-one years, and I never yet heard of such a thing, 
I’d throw my ground-tackle overboard, before I would be guilty 
of so lubberly an act ! ” 

“ That is what we do on this lake,” modestly replied Jasper, 
“when we are hard pressed. I daresay we might do better^ 
had we been better taught.” 

“ That you might indeed ! No ; no man induces me to com- 
mit such a sin against my own bringing up. I should never 
dare show my face inside of Sandy Hook again, had I com: 


222 


THE PATHFINDEK. 


mitted so know-nothing an exploit. Why, Pathfinder, here, has 
more seamanship in him than that comes to.. You can go 
below, again. Master Oh !-the-deuce.'^ 

Jasper quietly bowed and withdrew ; still, as he passed down 
the ladder, the spectators observed that he cast a lingering, 
anxious look at the horizon to windward, and the land to lee- 
ward, and then disappeared with concern strongly expressed in 
every lineament of his face. 


CHAPTER XVII. 


His still refuted quirks he still repeats ; 

New raised objections with new quibbles meets, 

Till sinking in the quicksand he defc'ads, 

He dies disputing, and the contest ends. 

— COWPER. 


As the soldier’s wife was sick in her berth, Mabel Dunham 
«ras the only person in the outer cabin wh<'.n Jasper returned 
to it ; for, by an act of grace in the sergeant, he had been per- 
mitted to resume his proper place in this part of the vessel. 
We should be ascribing too much simplicity of character to our 
heroine, if we said that she had felt no distrust of the young 
man, in consequence of his arrest ; but we should also be doing 
injustice to her warmth of feeling, and generosity of disposition, 
if we did not add that this distrust was insignificant and tran- 
sient. As he now took his seat near her, his whole countenance 
clouded with the uneasiness he felt concerning the. situation of 
the cutter, everything like suspicion was banished from her 
mind, and she saw in him only an injured man. 

“You let this affair weigh too heavily on your mind, Jasper,” 
she said, eagerly, or with that forgetfulness of self with which 
the youthful of her sex are wont lo betray their feelinr.s, when 
a strong and generous interest has attained the ascendency — ■ 
‘‘no one, who knows you, can or does believe you guilty. Path- 
finder says he will pledge his life for you.” 

“ Then yon, Mabel,” returned the youth, his eyes flashing 
fire, “ do not look upon me as the traitor that your father seems 
to believe me to be ? ” 

“ My dear father is a soldier, and is obliged to act as one. 
My father’s daughter is not, and will think of you. as she ought 
to think of a man who has done so much to serve her already-"' 


THE FA THFINDER. 


223 


** Mabel — I’m not used to talking with one like you — or 
saying all I think or feel, with any. I never had a sister, and 
my mother died when I was a child, so that I know little what 
your sex most likes to hear ” 

Mabel would have given the world to know wAat lay behind 
the teeming word, at which Jasper hesitated; but the indefina- 
ble and controlling sense of womanly diffidence made her sup 
press her womanly curiosity. She waited in silence for him to 
explain his own meaning. 

“ I wish to say, Mabel,” the young man continued, after a 
pause, which he found sufficiently embarrassing, “ that I am 
unused to the ways and opinions of one like you, and that you 
must imagine all I would add.” 

Mabel had imagination enough to fancy anything, but there 
are ideas and feelings that her sex prefer to have expiessed, 
before they yield them all their own sympathies, and she had a 
vague consciousness that these of Jasper’s might properly be 
enumerated in the class ; with a readiness that belonged to her 
sex, therefore, she preferred changing the discourse, to permit- 
ting it to proceed any further, in a manner so awkward and so 
unsatisfactory. 

“Tell me one thing, Jasper, and I shall be content,” she 
said, speaking now with a firmness that denoted confidence, not 
only in herself, but in her companion — “ you do not deserve this 
cruel suspicion which rests upon you 

“ I do not, Mabel,” answered Jasper, looking into her full 
blue eyes with an openness and simplicity that might have 
shaken strong distrust. “ As I hope for mercy hereafter, I do 
not.” 

“ I knew it— I could have sworn it,” returned the girl, 
warmly. ‘‘ And yet my father means well ; but do not let this 
matter disturb you, Jasper.” 

“ There is so much more to apprehend from another quarter, 
just now, that I scarce think of it.” 

“Jasper!” 

“ I do not wish to alarm you, Mabel, but if your uncle could 
be persuaded to change his notions about handling the Scud 
and yet he is so much older and more experienced than I am, 
that he ought, perhaps, to place more reliance on his own judg- 
ment than on mine.” 

“ Do you think the cutter in any danger ? ” demanded Mabel, 

quick as thought. . 

“ 1 fear so — at least she would have been thought in great 


224 


THE PATHFINDER, 


danger, by us of the lake ; perhaps an old seaman of the ocean 
may have means of his own to take care of her.” 

“ Jasper, all agree in giving you credit for skill in managing 
the Scud ! You know the lake, you know the cutter — you must 
be the best judge of our real situation ! ” 

“ My concern for you, Mabel, may make me more cowardly 
than common ; but, to be frank, I see but one method of keep- 
ing the cutter from being wrecked in the course of the next 
two or three hours, and that your uncle refuses to take. Aftei 
all, this may be my ignorance ; for, as he says, Ontario is merely 
fresh water.” 

“You cannot believe this will make any difference. Think 
of my dear father, Jasper! Think of yourself, of all the lives 
that depend on a timely word from you to save them ! ” 

“ I think of you; Mabel, and that is more, much more, than 
all the rest put together,” returned the young man, with a 
strength of expression, and an earnestness of look, that uttered 
infinitely more than the words themselves. 

Mabel’s heart beat quick, and a gleam of grateful satisfac- 
tion shot across her blushing features ; but the alarm was too 
vivid and too serious to admit of much relief from happier 
thoughts. She did not attempt to repress a look of gratitude, 
and then she returned to the feeling that was naturally upper- 
most. 

“ My uncle’s obstinacy must not be permitted to occasion 
"his disaster. Go once more on deck, Jasper, and ask my father 
to come into the cabin.” 

While the young man was complying with this request, 
Mabel sat listening to the howling of the storm, and the dash- 
ing of the water against the cutter, in a dread to which she had 
hitherto been a stranger. Constitutionally an excellent sailor, as 
the term is used among passengers, she had not, hitherto, be- 
thought her of any danger, and had passed her time, since the 
commencement of the gale, in such womanly employments as 
her situation allowed ; but, now alarm was seriously awakened, 
she did not fail to preceive that never before had she been on 
the water in such a tempest. The minute or two that had 
elasped ere the sergeant came, appeared an hour, and she 
scarcely breathed when she saw him and Jasper descending the 
ladder in company. Quick as language could express her mean- 
ing, she acquainted her father with Jasper’s opinion of their 
situation and entreated him, if he loved her, or had any regard for 
his own life, or for those of his own men, to interfere with her 


THE PATHFINDER, 


225 

uncle, and to induce him to yield the control of the cutter again 
to its proper commander. 

“ Jasper is true, father,” she added, earnestly, “ and if false, 
he could have no motive in wrecking us in this distant part of 
the lake, at the risk of all our lives, his own included. I will 
pledge my own life for his truth.” 

“ Ay, this is well enough for a young woman who is fright- 
ened,” answered the more phlegmatic parent ; “ but it might 
not be so prudent or excusable in one in command of an ex- 
pedition. Jasper may think the chance of drowning in getting 
ashore fully repaid by the chance of escaping as soon as he 
reaches land.” 

Sergeant Dunham ! ” 

“ Father ! ” 

These exclamations were made simultaneously, but they 
were uttered in tones expressive of different feelings. In Jasper, 
surprise was the emotion uppermost ; in Mabel, reproach. The 
old soldier, however, was too much accustomed to deal frankly 
with subordinates to heed either ; and, after a moment’s thought, 
he continued as if neither had spoken ; 

“ Nor is brother Cap a man likely to submit to be taught 
his duty on board a vessel.” 

“ But, father, when all our lives are in the utmost jeop- 
ardy ! ” 

So much the worse. The fair-weather commander is no 
great matter ; it is when things go wrong, that the best officer 
shows himself in his true colors. Charles Cap will not be 
likely to quit the helm because the ship is in danger. — Besides, 
Jasper Eau-douce, he says, your proposal, in itself, has a suspi- 
cious air about it, and sounds more like treachery than reason.” 

“ He may think so, but let him send for the pilot, and hear 
his opinion. It is well known I have not seen the man since 
yesterday evening.” 

“ This does sound reasonably, and the experiment shall be 
tried. Follow me on deck, then, that all may be honest and 
above-board.” 

Jasper obeyed, and so keen was the interest of Mabel, that 
ghe, too, ventured as far as the companion-way, where her gar- 
ments were sufficiently protected against the violence of the 
wind, and her person from the spray. Here maiden modesty 
induced her to remain, though an absorbed witness of what was 
passing. 

The pilot soon appeared, and there was no mistaking the 
look of concern that he cast around at the scene, as soon as he 


226 


THE PA rilFINDER. 


was in the open air. Some rumors of the situation of the Scud 
had found their way below, it is true ; but, in this instance, 
rumor had lessened, instead of magnifying the dangers. He 
was allowed a few minutes to look about him, and then the 
question was put as to the course that he thought it prudent to 
follow. 

“ I see no means of saving the cutter, but to anchor,” he 
answered, simply, and without hesitation. 

“ What, out here, in the lake ? ” inquired Cap, as he had 
previously done of Jasper. 

“ No — but closer in ; just at the outer line of the breakers.” 

The effect of this communication was to leave no doubt in 
in the mind of Cap, that there was a secret arrangement between 
her commander and the pilot to cast away the Scud ; most i 
probably with the hope of effecting their escepe. He conse- 
quently treated the opinion of the latter with the indifference 
he had manifested toward that of the former. 

“ I tell you, brother Dunham,” he said, in answer to the 
remonstrances of the sergeant against his turning a deaf ear to 
this double representation, “ that no seaman would give such * 
an opinion honestly. To anchor on a lee-shore in a gale of : 
wind, would be an act of madness, that I could never excuse to 
the underwriters, under any circumstances, as long as a rag 
can be set — but to anchor close to breakers would be insanity.” ’ 

“ His majesty underwrites the Scud, brother, and I am re- ^ 
sponsible for the lives of my command. These men are better I 
acquainted with Lake Ontario, than we can possibly be, and I a 
do think their telling the same tale entitles them to some \ 
credit.” \ 

“ Uncle ! ” said Mabel, earnestly — but a gesture from Jasper 
induced the girl to restrain her feelings. \ 

We are drifting down upon the breakers so rapidly,” said J 
the young man, “ that little need be said on the subject. Half J 
an hour must settle the matter, one way or the other ; but I | 
warn Master Cap that the surest-footed man among us will not | 
be able to keep his feet an instant on the deck of this low craft I 
should she fairly get within them. Indeed, I make little doubt | 
that we shall fill and founder before the second line of rollers I 
is passed ! ” | 

“ And how would anchoring help the matter ? ” demanded I 
Cap, furiously, as if he felt that Jasper was responsible for the | 
effects of the gale, as well as for the opinion he had just I 
given. 

“ It would at least do no harm,” Eau-douce mildly rey'ied 


THE PATHFINDER. 


227 


" By bringing the cutter head to sea we should lessen her drift ; 
and, even if we dragged through the breakers, it would be with 
the least possible danger. I hope, Master Cap, you will allo\« 
the pilot and myself to prepare for anchoring, since the precau* 
tion may do good, and can do no harm.” 

“ Overhaul your ranges if you will, and get your anchors 
clear, with all my heart. We are now in a situation that 
cannot be much affected by anything of that sort. Sergeant, 
a w’ord with you aft here, if you please.” 

Cap led his brother-in-law out of ear-shot, and then, with 
more of human feeling in his voice and manner than he was 
apt to exhibit, he opened his heart on the subject of their real 
situation. 

“ This is a melancholy affair for poor Mabel,” he said, blow- 
ing his nose, and speaking with a slight tremor. “ You and I, 
sergeant, are old fellows, and used to being near death, if not 
to actually dying. Our trades fit us for such scenes ; but poor 
Mabel, she is an affectionate and kind-hearted girl, and I had 
hoped to see her comfortably settled and a mother, before my 
time came. Well, well ; we must take the bad with the good 
in every v’y’ge, and the only serious objection that an old sea- 
faring man can with propriety make to such an event is, that it 
should happen on this bit of d :1 fresh water.” 

Sergeant Dunham was a brave man, and had shown his 
spirit in scenes that looked much more appalling than this. 
But on all such occasions he had been able to act his part 
against his foes, while here he was pressed upon by an enemy 
whom he had no means of resisting. For himself he cared far 
less than for his daughter, feeling some of that self-reliance 
which seldom deserts a man of firmness, who is in vigorous 
health, and who has been accustomed to personal exertions in 
moments of jeopardy. But, as respects Mabel, he saw no means 
of escape, and with a father’s fondness he at once determined 
that, if either was doomed to perish, he and his daughter must 
perish together. 

“ Do you think this must come to pass ? ” he asked of Cap, 
nrmly, but with strong feeling. 

“ Twenty minutes will carry us into the breakers, and look 
for yourself, sergeant, what chance will even the stoutest man 
among us have in that caldron to lee-ward ? ” 

The prospect was, indeed, little calculated to encourage 
hope. By this time the Scud was within a mile of the shore, on 
which the gale was blowing at right angles, with a violence that 
forbade the idea of showing any additional canvas with a vievi 


228 


THE PATHFINDER. 


to claw off. The small portion of the mainsail that was actu 
ally set, and which merely served to keep the head of the Scud 
so near the wind as to prevent the waves from breaking over 
her, quivered under the gusts as if at each moment the stout 
threads which held the complicated fabric together, were about 
to be torn asunder. The drizzle had ceased, but the air for 
a hundred feet above the surface of the lake was filled with 
dazzling spray, which had an appearance not unlike that of a 
brilliant mist, while, above all, the sun was shining gloriously 
in a cloudless sky. Jasper had noted the omen, and had fore- 
told that it announced a speedy termination to the gale, though 
the next hour or two must decide their fate. Between the 
cutter and the shore the view was still more wild and appalling. 
The breakers extended near half a mile ; while the water within 
their line was white with foam, the air above them was so far 
filled with vapor and spray as to render the land beyond hazy 
and indistinct. Still it could be seen that the latter was high, 
not a usual thing for the shores of Ontario, and that it was 
covered with the verdant mantle of the interminable forest. 

While the sergeant and Cap were gazing at this scene in 
silence, Jasper and his people were actively engaged on the 
forecastle. No sooner had the young man received permission 
to resume his old employment, than, appealing to some of the 
soldiers for aid, he mustered five or six assistants, and set 
about in earnest the performance of a duty that had been too 
long delayed. On these narrow waters anchors are never 
stowed inboard, or cables that are intended for service unbent, 
and Jasper was saved much of the labor that would have. been 
necessary in a vessel at sea. The two bowers were soon ready 
to be let go, ranges of the cables were overhauled, and then 
the party paused to look about them. No changes for the 
better had occurred ; but the cutter was falling slowly in, and 
each instant rendered it more certain that she could not gain 
an inch to windward. 

One long, earnest survey of the lake ended, Jasper gave 
new orders in a manner to prove how much he thought that 
the time pressed. Two hedges were got on deck and hawsers 
were bent to them ; the inner ends of the hawser were bent in 
their turn to the crowns of their anchors, and everything was 
got ready to throw them overboard at the proper moment. 
These preparations completed, Jasper’s manner changed from 
the excitement of exertion to a look of calm but settled concern. 
He quitted the forecastle, where the seas were dashing inboard 
at every plunge of the vessel, the duty just mentioned having 


THE PATHFINDER, 


229 

been executed with the bodies of the crew frequently buried in 
the water, and walked to a drier part of the deck aft. Here 
he was met by the Pathfinder, who was standing near Mabel 
and the quartermaster. Most of those on board, with the 
exception of the individuals who have already been particu- 
lady mentioned, were below, some seeking relief from physi- 
cal suffering on their pallets, and others tardily bethinking 
them of their sins. For the first time, most probably, since 
her keel had dipped into the limpid waters of Ontario, the 
voice of prayer was heard on board the Scud. 

“ Jasper,” commenced his friend the guide, “ I have 
been of no use this morning, for my gifts are of little account, 
as you know, in a vessel like this ; but, should it please God to 
let the sergeant’s daughter reach the shore alive, my acquaint- 
ance with the forest may still carry her through in safety to the 
garrison.” 

“ ’Tis a fearful distance thither, Pathfinder ! ” Mabel re- 
joined, the party being so near together that all that was said 
by one was overheard by the other. “ I am afraid none of us 
could live to reach the fort.” 

“ It would be a risky path, Mabel, and a crooked one, 
though some of your sex have undergone even more than that 
in this wilderness. But, Jasper, either you or I, or both of us, 
must man this bark canoe ; Mabel’s only chance will lie in get- 
ting through the breakers in that.” 

“ I would willingly man anything to save Mabel,” answered 
Jasper, with a melancholy smile ; “ but no human hands. 
Pathfinder, could carry that canoe through yonder breakers in 
a gale like this. I have hopes from anchoring, after all ; for 
once before have we saved the Scud in an extremity nearly as 
great as this.” 

“ If we are to anchor, Jasper,” the sergeant inquired, “ why 
not do it at once ? Every fool we lose in drifting now would 
come into the distance we shall probably drag when the anchors 
are let go.” 

Jasper drew nearer to the sergeant and took his hand, press- 
ing it earnestly, and in a way to denote strong, almost uncon- 
trollable feelings. 

“ Sergeant Dunham,” he said, solemnly, “ you are a good 
man, though you have treated me harshly in this business. 
You love your daughter } ” 

“ That you cannot doubt, Eau-douce,” returned the sergeant^ 
huskily. 


230 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


“ Will you give her — give us all, the only chance for life 
that is left ? ” 

“ What would you have me to do, boy ; what would you 
have me to do ? I have acted according to my judgment 
hitherto — what would you have me do ? ’’ 

“ Support me against Master Cap for five minutes, and all 
that man can do toward saving the Scud shall be done.” 

The sergeant hesitated, for he was too much of a disciplin- 
arian to fly in the face of regular orders. He. disliked the ap- 
pearance of vacillation too, and then he had a profound respect 
for his kinsman’s seamanship. While he was deliberating, Cap 
came from the post he had some time occupied, which was at 
the side of the man at the helm, and drew nigh the group. 

“ Master Eau-dOuce,” he said, as soon as near enough to be 
heard, “ I have come to inquire if you know any spot near by 
where this cutter can be beached.? .„The moment has arrived 
when we are driven to this hard alternative.” 

That instant of indecision on the part of Cap secured the 
triumph of Jasper. Looking at the sergeant, the young man 
received a nod that assured him of all he asked, and he lost not 
one of those moments that were getting to be so very precious. 

“ Shall I take the helm,” he inquired of Cap, “ and see if 
we can reach a creek that lies to leeward.” 

“ Do so — do so — ” said the other, hemming to clear hia 
throat, for he felt oppressed by a responsibility that weighed 
all the heavier on his shouldiers on account of his ignorance. 
“ Do so, Oh-the-deuce, since, to be frank with you, I can see 
nothing better to be done. We must beach or swamp ! ” 

Jasper required no more. Springing aft, he soon had the 
tiller in his own hands. The pilot was prepared for what was 
to follow, and, at a sign from his young commander, the rag of 
sail that had so long been set was taken in. At that moment, 
Jasper, watching his time, put the helm up, the head of a staysail 
was loosened forward, and the light cutter, as if conscious she 
was now under the control of familiar hands, fell off, and was 
soon in the trough of the sea. This perilous instant was passed 
in safety, and at the next moment the little vessel appeared 
flying down toward the breakers at a rate that threatened instant 
destruction. The distances had got to be So short that five oi 
six minutes sufficed for all that Jasper wished, and he put the 
helm down again when the bows of the Scud came up to the 
wind, notwithstanding the turbulence of the waters, as grace- 
fully as the duck varies its line of direction on the glassy 
pond. A sign from Jasper set all in motion on the for© 


THE PA THFINDER. 


231 


castle, and a kedge was thrown from each bow. The fear 
ful nature of the drift was now apparent even to Mabel’s 
eyes, for the two hawsers ran out like tow-lines. As soon as 
they straightened to a slight strain, both anchors were let go, 
and cable was given to each nearly to the better-ends. It was not 
a difficult task to snub so light a craft with ground tackle of a 
quality better than common ; and, in less than ten minutes 
from the moment when Jasper went to the helm, the Scud was 
riding, head to sea, with the two cables stretched ahead in lines 
that resembled bars of iron. 

“ This is not well done, Master Jasper ! ” angrily exclaimed 
Cap, as soon as he perceived the trick that had ben played 
him — “ this is not well done, sir : I order you to cut, and to 
beach the cutter, without a moment’s delay.” 

No one, however, seemed disposed to comply with this 
order, for so long as Eau-douce saw fit to command, his own 
people were disposed to obey. Finding that the men remained 
passive. Cap, who believed they were in the utmost peril, turned 
fiercely to Jasper, and renewed his remonstrances. 

“ You did not head for your pretended creek,” he added, 
after dealing in some objurgatory remarks that we do not deem 
it necessary to record, “ but steered for that bluff, where every 
soul on board would have been drowned, had we gone 
ashore ! ” 

“ And you wish to cut, and put every soul ashore, at that 
very spot ! ” Jasper retorted, a little dryly. 

“ Throw a lead-line overboard, and ascertain the drift ! — ” 
Cap now roared to the people forward. A sign from Jasper 
sustaining this order, it was instantly obeyed. All on deck 
gathered round the spot, and watched, with nearly breathless 
interest, the result of the experiment. The lead was no sooner 
on the bottom, than the line tended forward, and in about two 
minutes it was seen that the cutter had drifted her length, dead 
in toward the bluff. Jasper looked grave, for he well knew noth- 
ing would hold the vessel did she get within the vortex of the 
breakers, the first line af which was appearing and disappearing 
about a cable’s length directly under their stern. 

“ Traitor ! ” exclaimed Cap, shaking a finger at the young 
commander, though passion choked the rest. “ You must an- 
swer for this with your life ! ” he added, after a short pause. 
— “ If I were at the head of this expedition, sergeant, I would 
hang him at the end of the main-boom, lest he escape drown- 
ing ! ” 

“ Moderate your feelings, brother — be more moderate, I be 


THE PA THFINDER. 


232 

seech you ; Jasper appears to have done all for the best, and 
matters may not be as bad as you believe them.” 

“ Why did he not run for the creek he mentioned — why has 
he brought us here, dead to windward of that bluff, and to a 
spot where even the breakers are only of half the ordinary width, 
as if in a hurry to drown all on board } ” 

“I headed for the bluff, for' the precise reason that the 
breakers are so narrow at this spot,” answered Jasper, mildly, 
though his gorge had risen at the language the other held. 

“ Do you mean to tell an old seaman like me that this cutter 
could live in those breakers } ” 

“ I do not, sir. I think she would fill and swamp, if driven 
into the first line of them — I am certain she would never reach 
the shore on her bottom, if fairly entered. I hope to keep her 
clear of them altogether.” 

“ With a drift of her length in a minute ! ” 

“ The backing of the anchors does not yet fairly tell, nor do 
I even hope that f/iey will entirely bring her up.” 

“ On what do you rely ? To moor a craft, head and stern, 
by faith, hope, and charity ! ” 

“ No, sir — I trust to the under-tow. I headed for the bluff, 
because I knew that it was stronger at that point than at any 
other, and because we could get nearer in with the land with- 
out entering the breakers.” 

This was said with spirit, though without any particular show 
of resentment. Its effect on Cap was marked, the feeling that 
was uppermost being evidently that of surprise. 

“ Under-tow ! ” he repeated ; “ who the devil ever heard of 
saving a vessel from going ashore by the under-tow ? ” 

“This may never happen on the ocean, sir,” Jasper an- 
swered, modestly. “ but we have known it to happen here.” 

“ The lad is right, brother,” put in the sergeant ; “ for, 
though I do not well understand it, I have often heard the 
sailors of the lake speak of such a thing. We shall do well to 
trust to Jasper in this strait.” 

Cap grumbled and swore, but as there was no remedy, he 
was compelled to acquiesce. Jasper being now called on to ex- 
plain what he meant by the under-tow, gave this account of the 
matter The water that was driven up on the shore by the gale 
was necessarily compelled to find its level by returning to the 
lake by some secret channels. This could not be done on the 
surface, where both wind and waves were constantly urging it 
toward the land, and it necessarily formed a sort of lower eddy, 
by means of which it flowed back again to its ancient and 


THE PA TIIFINDER. 


233 

proper bed. This inferior current had received the name of the 
under-tow ; and, as it would necessarily act on the bottom of a 
vessel that drew as much water as the Scud, Jasper trusted to 
the aid of this reaction to keep his cables from parting. In 
short, the upper and lower currents would, in a manner, counter- 
act each other. 

Simple and ingenious as was this theory, however, as yet 
there was little evidence of its being reduced to practice. The 
drift continued ; though as the hedges and hawsers with which 
the anchors were backed took the strains, it became sensibly 
less. At length the man at the lead announced the joyful in- 
telligence that the anchors had ceased to d,rag, and that the 
vessel had brought up ! At this precise moment, the first line 
of breakers was about a hundred feet astern of the Scud, even 
appearing to approach much nearer, as the foam vanished and 
returned on the raging surges. Jasper sprang forward, and 
casting a glance over the bows, he smiled in triumph as he 
pointed exultingly at the cables. Instead of resembling bars 
of iron in rigidity, as before, they were curving downward, and, 
to a seaman’s senses, it was evident that the cutter rose and 
fell on the seas as they came in with the ease of a ship in a 
tideway, when the power of the wind is relieved by the counter- 
acting pressure of the water. 

“ ’Tis the under-tow ! ” he exclaimed, with delight, fairly 
bounding along the deck to steady the helm, in order that the 
cutter might ride still easier — “ Providence has placed us 
directly in its current, and there is no longer any danger ! ” 

“ Ay,, ay ; Providence is a good seaman,” growled Cap, “ and 
often helps lubbers out of difficulty. Under-tow or upper-tow, 
the gale has abated ; and, fortunately for us all, the anchors 

have met with good holding-ground. Then this d d fresh 

water has an unnatural way with it ! ” 

Men are seldom inclined to quarrel with good fortune, but 
it is in distress that they grow clamorous and critical. Most on 
board were disposed to believe that they had been saved from 
shipwreck by the skill and knowledge of Jasper, without regard 
ing the opinions of Cap, whose remarks were now little heeded. 

There was half an hour of uncertainty and doubt, it is true 
during which period the lead was anxiously watched ; and then 
a feeling of security came over all, and the wea-ry slept without 
dreaming of instant death. 


234 


THE PA THFINDER, 


CHAPTER XVIIL 

•* It Is to be all made of sighs and tears : 

It is to be all made of faith and service ; 

It is to be all made of fantasy — 

All made of passion, and all made of wishes : 

All adoration, duty, and observance ; 

All humbleness, all patience, and impatience; 

All purity, all trial, all ooservance.” 

--Shakespearb. 

It was near noon when the gale broke, and then its forc€ 
abated as suddenly as its violence had arisen. In less than two 
hours after the wind fell, the surface of the lake, though still 
agitated, was no longer glittering with foam ; and, in double 
that time, the entire sheet presented the ordinary scene of dis- 
turbed water, that was unbroken by the violence of a tempest. 
Still the waves came rolling incessantly toward the shore, and 
the lines of breakers remained, though the spray had ceased to 
fly ; the combing of the swells was moderate, and all that there 
was of violence proceeded from the impulsion of wind that had 
abated. 

As it was impossible to make head against the sea that was 
still up, with the light opposing air that blew from the eastward, 
all thoughts of getting under way that afternoon were abandonea. 
Jasper, who had now quietly resumed the command of the Scud, 
busied himself, however, in heaving up the anchors, which were 
lifted in succession. The hedges that backed them were 
weighed, and everything was got in readiness for a prompt de- 
parture, as soon as the state of the weather would allow. In 
the meantime, they who had no concern with those duties 
sought such means of amusement as their peculiar circumstances 
allowed. 

As is common with those who are unused to the confine- 
ment of a vessel, Mabel cast wistful eyes toward the shore ; 
nor was ic long before she expressed a wish tnat it weie 
possible to land. The Pathfinder was near her at the time, 
and he assured her that nothing would be easier, as they had 
a bark canoe on deck, which was the best possible mode of 
conveyance to go through a surf. After the usual doubts and 
misgivings, the sergeant was appealed to : his opinion proved 
to be favorable, and preparations to carry the whim into effect 
were immediately made. 

The party that was to land, consisted of Sergeant Dunham, 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


235 

his daughter, and the Pathfinder. Accustomed to the canoe, 
Mabel took her seat in the centre with great steadiness, her 
father was placed in the bows, while the guide assumed the 
office of conductor, by sterning in the stern. There was little 
need of impelling the canoe by means of the paddle, for the 
rollers sent it forward, at moments, with a violence that set 
every effort to govern its movements at defiance. More than 
once, ere the shore was reached, Mabel repented of her 
temerity, but Pathfinder encouraged her, and really manifested 
so much self-possession, coolness, and strength of arm, himself, 
that even a female might have hesitated about owning all her 
apprehensions. Our heroine was no coward, and, while she 
felt the novelty cf her situation, she also experienced a fair 
proportion of its wild delight. At moments, indeed, her heart 
was in her mouth, as the bubble of a boat floated on the very 
crest of a foaming breaker, appearing to skim the water like a 
swallow,and then she flushed and laughed, as, left by the glancing 
element, they appeared to linger behind, ashamed of having 
been outdone in the headlong race. A few minutes sufficed 
for this excitement, for, though the distance between the cutter 
and the land considerably exceeded a quarter of a mile, the 
intermediate space was passed in a very few minutes. 

On landing, the sergeant kissed his daughter kindl}', for he 
was so much of a soldier as always to feel more at home on 
terra firma than when afloat, and, taking his gun, he announced 
his intention to pass an hour in quest of game. 

“ Pathfinder will remain near you, girl, and no doubt he 
will tell you some of the traditions of this part of the world, or 
some of his own experiences with the Mingoes.” 

The guide laughed, promised to have a care of Mabel, and 
in a few minutes the father had ascended a steep acclivity, and 
disappeared in the forest. The others took another direction, 
which, after a few minutes of sharp ascent also, brought them 
to a smal naked point on the promontory, where the eye over- 
looked an extensive and very peculiar panorama. Here Mabel 
seated herself on a fragment of fallen rock, to recover her 
breath and strength, while her companion, on whose sinews no 
personal exertion seemed to make any impression, stood at her 
side, leaning in his own- and not ungraceful manner on his 
long rifle. Several minutes passed, and neither spoke ; Mabel, 
in particular, being lost in admiration of the view. 

The position the two had attained, was sufficiently elevated 
to command a wide reach of the lake, which stretched away 
toward the northeast in a boundless sheet, glittering beneath 


THE pathfinder. 


236 

the fays of an afternoon’s sun, and yet betraying the remains 
of that agitation which it had endured while tossed by the late 
tempest. The land set bounds to its limits, in a huge crescent, 
disappearing in distance towards the southeast and the north. 
Far as the eye could reach, nothing but forest was visible, not 
even a solitary sign of civilization breaking in upon the 
uniform and grand magnificence of nature. The gale had 
driven the Scud beyond the line of those forts with which the 
French were then endeavoring to gird the English North- 
American possession^ ; for, following the channels of communi- 
cation between the great lakes, their posts were on the banks 
of the Niagara, while our adventurers had reached a point 
many leagues westward from that celebrated strait. The cutter 
rode at single anchor, without the breakers, resembling some 
well-imagined and accurately-executed toy, that was intended 
rather for a glass case than for the struggles with the elements 
which she had so lately gone through ; while the canoe lay on 
the narrow beach, just out of reach of the waves that came 
booming upon the land, a speck upon the shingles. 

“ We are very far, here, from human habitations ! ” ex- 
claimed Mabel, when, after a long and musing survey of the 
scene, its principal peculiarities forced themselves on her active 
and ever-brilliant imagination : “ this is, indeed, being on a 
frontier ! ” 

“ Have they more sightly scenes than this, nearer the sea, 
and around their large towns ? ” demanded Pathfinder, with an 
interest he was apt to discover in such a subject. 

“ I will not say that ; there is more to remind one of his 
fellow-beings there than here ; less, perhaps, to remind one of 
God.” 

“ Ay, Mabel, that is what my own feelings say. I am but 
a poor hunter, I know : untaught and unlarned ; but God is as 
near me in this my home, as he is near the king in his royal 
palace.” 

“ Who can doubt it ? ” returned Mabel, looking from the 
view up into the hard-featured, but honest face of her com 
panion, though not without surprise at the energy of his 
manner— “ One feels nearer to God, in such a spot, I think, 
than when the mind is distracted by the objects of the towns.” 

“ You say all I wish to say myself, Mabel, but in so much 
plainer speech that you make me ashamed of wishing to let 
others know what I feel on such matters. I have coasted this 
lake in s’arch of skins, afore the war, and have been here 
already ; not at this very spot, for we landed yonder where you 


THE PATHFINDER, 


237 

may see the blasted oak that stands above the cluster of hem- 
locks ” 

“ How ! Pathfinder, can you remember all those trifles so 
accurately ? ” 

“ These are our streets and houses ; our churches and out 
palaces. Remember them, indeed ! I once made an appoint- 
ment with the Big Sarpent, to meet at twelve o’clock at noon 
near the foot of a certain pine, at the end of six months, when 
neither of us was within three hundred miles of the spot. The 
tree stood, and stands still, unless the judgment of Providence 
has lighted on that too, in the midst of the forest, fifty miles 
from any settlement, but in a most extraordinary neighborhood 
for beaver.” 

“ And did you meet at that very spot and hour ? ” 

“ Does the sun rise and set .? When I reached the tree, I 
found the Serpent leaning against its trunk, with torn leggings 
and muddied moccasins. The Delaware had got into a swamp, 
and it worried him not a little to find his way out of it : but, as 
the sun which comes over the eastern hills in the morning, goes 
down behind the western at night, so was he true to time and 
place. No fear of Chingachgook when there is either a friend 
or an enemy in the case. He is equally sartain with each.” 

“ And where is the Delaware now — why is he not with us 
to-day .? ” 

““ He is scouting on the Mingo trail, where I ought to have 
been too, but for a great human infirmity.” 

“ You seem above, beyond, superior to all infirmity, Path- 
finder ; I never yet met with a man who appeared to be so little 
liable to the weaknesses of nature.” 

“ If you mean in the way of health and strength, Mabel, 
Providence has been kind to me ; though I fancy the open air, 
long hunts, active scoutings, forest fare, and the sleep of a good 
conscience, may always keep the doctors at a distance. But I 
am human, after all ; yes, I find I’m very human in some of my 
feelin’s.” 

Mabel looked surprised, and it would be no more than 
delineating the character of her sex, if we added that her sweet 
countenance expressed a good deal of curiosity, too, though 
her tongue was more discreet. 

“ There is something bewitching in this wild life of yours, 
Pathfinder,” she exclaimed, a tinge of enthusiasm mantling her 
cheeks. “ I find I’m fast getting to be a frontier girl, and am 
coming to love all this grand silence of the woods. The towns 
seem tame to me ; and, as my father will probably pass 


THE PATHFINDER. 


238 

the remainder of his days here, where he has already lived 
so long, I begin to feel that I should be happy to continue with 
him, and not return to the sea-shore.” 

“ The woods are never silent, Mabel, to such as understand 
their meaning. Days at a time have I travelled them alone, 
without feeling the want of company ; and, as for conversation, 
for such as can comprehend their language, there is no want of 
rational and instructive discourse.” 

“ I believe you are happier when alone. Pathfinder, than 
when mingling with your fellow-creatures.” 

“ I will not say that — I will not say exactly that ! I have 
seen the time when I have thought that God was sufficient for 
me in the forest, and craved no more than his bounty and his 
care. But other feelin’s have got uppermost, and I suppose 
natur’ will have its way. All other creatur’s mate, Mabel, and 
it was intended man should do so, too.” 

“ And have you never bethought you of seeking a wife. 
Pathfinder, to share your fortunes ? ” inquired the girl, with the 
directness and simplicity that the pure of heart, and the unde 
signing, are the most apt to manifest, and with that feeling of 
affection which is inbred in her sex. “ To me, it seems, you 
want only a home to return to, after your wanderings, to render 
your life completely happy. Were I a man, it would be my 
delight to roam through these forests at will, or to sail over this 
beautiful lake.” 

“ I understand 5^ou, Mabel ; and God bless you for thinking 
of the welfare of men as humble as we are. We have our 
pleasures, it is true, as well as our gifts, but we might be hap* 
pier: yes, I do think we might.be happier.” 

“ Happier ! in what way, Pathfinder t In this pure air, with 
these cool and shaded forests to wander through, tiffs lovely 
lake to gaze at, and sail upon, with clear consciences, and 
abundance for all the real wants, men ought to be nothing less 
than as perfectly happy as their infirmities will allow.” 

“ Every creatur’ has its gifts, Mabel, and men has theirs/ 
answered the guide, looking stealthily at his beautiful companion, 
whose cheeks had flushed and eyes brightened under the ardor 
of feelings excited by the novelty of her striking situation ; 
“ and all must obey them. Do you see yonder pigeon that is just 
alightin’ on the beach — here in a line with the fallen chestnut ? ” 
Certainly ; it is the only thing stirring with life in it, be- 
sides ourselves, that is to be seen in this vast solitude.” 

« “ Not so, Mabel, not so ; Providence makes nothing that 

lives, to live quite alone. Here is its mate, just rising on the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


239 

wing ; it has been feedin’ near the other beech, but it will not 
long be separated from its companion.” 

“ I understand you, Pathfinder,” returned Mabel, smiling 
sweetly, though as calmly as if the discourse was with her father. 
“ But a hunter may find a mate, even in this wild region. The 
Indian girls are affectionate and true, I know, for such was the 
wife of Arrowhead, to a husband that oftener frowned than 
smiled.” 

“ That would never do, Mabel, and good would never come 
of it. Kind must cling to kind, and country to country, if one 
would find happiness. If, indeed, I could meet with one like 
you, who would consent to be a hunter’s wife, and who would 
not scorn my ignorance and rudeness then, indeed, would all the 
toil of the past appear like the sporting of the young deer, and 
all the future like sunshine ! 

“ One like me ! A girl of my years and indiscretion would 
hardly make a fit companion for the boldest scout and surest 
hunter on the lines ! ” 

“ Ah ! Mabel, I fear me that I have been improving a red- 
skin’s gifts with a paleface’s natur’ ! Such a character would 
insure a wife in an Injin village.” 

“ Surely, surely. Pathfinder,, you would not think of choosing 
one as ignorant, as frivolous, as vain, and as inexperienced as 
I, for your wife ! ” Mabel would have added, “ and as young,” 
but an instinctive feeling of delicacy repressed the words. 

“ And why not, Mabel ? If you are ignorant of frontier 
usages, you know more than all of us of pleasant anecdotes 
and town customs ; as for frivolous, I know not what it means, 
but if it signifies beauty, ah’s me ! I fear it is no fault in my 
eyes. Vain you are not, as is seen by the kind manner in 
which you listen to all my idle tales about scoutings and trails ; 
and for experience, that will come with years. Besides, Mabel, 
I fear men think little of these matters when they are about to 
take wives — I do.” 

“ Pathfinder — your words — your looks — surely all this is 
meant in trifling — you speak in pleasantry.” 

“To me it is always agreeable to be near you, Mabel, and 
I should sleep sounder this blessed night, than I have done for 
a week past, could I think that you find such discourse as pleas- 
ant as I do.” 

We shall not say that Mabel Dunham had not believed her* 
self a favorite with the guide. This her quick feminine sagacity 
had early discovered, and perhaps she had occasionally thought 
there had mingled with his regard and friendship some of that 


240 


THE PA THFINDER, 


manly tenderness which the ruder sex must be coarse indeed 
not to show, on occasions, to the gentler ; but the idea that he 
seriously sought her for his wife, had never before crossed the 
mind of the spirited and ingenuous girl. Now, however, a 
gleam of something like the truth broke in upon her imagination 
less induced by the words of her companion, perhaps, than by 
his manner. Looking earnestly into the rugged, honest counte- 
nance of the scout, Mabel’s own features became concerned 
and grave, and when she spoke again, it was with a gentleness 
of manner that attracted him to her, even more powerfully than 
the words themselves were calculated to repel. 

“ You and I should understand each other. Pathfinder,” she 
said, with an earnest sincerity, “ nor should there be any cloud 
between us. You are too upright and frank to meet with any- 
thing but sincerity and frankness in return. Surely — surely, 
all this means nothing — has no other connection with your 
feelings than such a friendship as one of your wisdom and 
character would naturally feel for a girl like me ! ” 

“ I believe it’s all as nat’ral, Mabel ; yes, I do ; the ser- 
geant tells me he had such feelings towards your own mother, 
and I think I’ve seen something like it, in the young people I 
have, from time to time, guided through the wilderness. Yes, 
yes — I dare say it’s all nat’ral enough, and that makes it come 
so easy, and is a great comfort to me.” 

“ Pathfinder, your words make me uneasy ! Speak plainer, 
or change the subject forever. You do not — cannot mean that 

— you — cannot wish me to understand ” even the tongue 

of the spirited Mabel faltered, and she shrank with maiden 
shame, from adding what she wished so earnestly to say. 
Rallying her courage, however, and determined to know all as 
soon and as plainly as possible, after a moment’s hesitation, 
she continued — “ I mean. Pathfinder, that you do not wish me 
to understand that you seriously think of me as a wife ? ” 

“ I do, Mabel ; that’s it — that’s just it, and you have put 
the matter in a much better point of view than I, with my forest 
gifts and frontier ways, would ever be able to do. The sergeant 
and I have concluded on the matter, if it is agreeable to you, 
as he thinks is likely will be the case, though I doubt my own 
power to please one who deserves the best husband America 
can produce.” 

Mabel’s countenance changed from uneasiness to surprise, 
and, then, by a transition still quicker, from surprise to pain. 

“ My father ! ” she exclaimed. “ My dear father hag 
thought of my becoming your wife, Pathfinder ! ” 


THE PATHFINDER, 


241 


** Yes, he has, Mabel ; he has indeed ! He has even thought 
such a thing might be agreeable to you, and has almost en- 
couraged me to fancy it might be true.” 

“ But, you, yourself — you certainly can care nothing whethef 
this singular expectation shall be realized or not ” 

“ Anan ? ” 

“ I mean. Pathfinder, that you have talked of this match 
more to oblige my father than anything else ; that your feelings 
are no way concerned, let my answer be what it may.” 

The scout looked earnestly into the beautiful face of Mabel, 
which had flushed with the ardor and novelty of her sensations, 
and it was impossible to mistake the intense admiration that 
betrayed itself in every lineament of his ingenuous countenance. 

“ I have often thought myself happy, Mabel, when ranging 
•he woods, on a successful hunt, breathing the pure air of the 
hills, and filled with vigor and health ; but I now feel that it 
has all been idleness and vanity compared with the delight it 
would give me to know that you thought better of me than you 
think of most others.” 

“ Better of you ! — I do indeed think better of you. Path- 
finder, than of most others — I am not certain that I do not 
think better of you than of any other ; for your truth, honesty, 
simplicity, justice, and courage, are scarcely equalled by any 
on earth.” 

“ Ah ! Mabel ! — these are sweet and encouraging words 
from you, and the sergeant, after all, was not as near wrong as 
I feared.” 

“ Nay, Pathfinder — in the name of all that is sacred and 
just, do not let us misunderstand each other in a matter of so 
much importance. While I esteem, respect — nay, reverence 
you, almost as much as I reverence my own dear father, it is 
impossible that I should ever become your wife — that I ” 

The change in her companion’s countenance was so sudden 
and so great, that the moment the effect of what she had utter- 
ed became visible in the face of the Pathfinder, Mabel arrested 
her own words, notwithstanding her strong desire to be explicit, 
the reluctance with which she could at any time cause pain 
being sufficient of itself to induce the pause. Neither spoke 
for some time, the shade of disappointment that crossed the 
rugged lineaments of the hunter amounting so nearly to anguish, 
as to frighten his companion, while the sensation of choking 
became so strong in the Pathfinder, that he fairly griped his 
throat, like one who sought physical relief for physical suffering. 


242 


THE PATHFINDER. 


The convulsive manner in which his fingers worked actually 
struck the alarmed girl with a feeling of awe. 

“ Nay, Pathfinder,” Mabel eagerly added, the instant she 
could command her voice — “ I may have said more than I 
mean, for all things of this nature are possible, and women, 
they say, are never sure of their own minds. What I wish you 
to undei stand is, that it is not likely that you and I should evei 
think of each other, as man and wife ought to think of each 
other.” 

“ I do not — I shall never think in that way again, Mabel — ” 
gasped forth the Pathfinder, who appeared to utter his words 
like one just raised above the pressure of some suffocating 
substance. “ No — no — I shall never think of you, or any one 
else, again, in that way.” 

“ Pathfinder — dear Pathfinder — understand me — do not 
attach more meaning to my words than I do myself — a match 
like that would be unwise — unnatural, perhaps.” 

“ Yes, unnat’ral — ag’in natur’ ; and so I told the sergeant, 
but he would have it otherwise.” 

“ Pathfinder! — Oh ! this is worse than I could have imagined 
— take my hand, excellent Pathfinder, and let me see that you 
do not hate me. For God’s sake, smile upon me again I ” 

“ Hate you, Mabel — Smile upon you I — Ah’s me ! ” 

“Nay, give me your hand; your - hardy, true and manly 
hand — both, both. Pathfinder, for I shall not be easy until I 
feel certain that we are friends again, and that all this has been 
a mistake.” 

“ Mabel,” said the guide, looking wistfully into the face of 
the generous and impetuous girl, as she held his two hard and 
sunburnt hands in her own pretty and delicate fingers, and 
laughing in his own silent and peculiar manner, while anguish 
gleamed over lineaments which seemed incapable of deception, 
even while agitated with emotions so conflicting, “Mabel, the 
sergeant was wrong ! ” 

The pent-up feelings could endure no more, and the tears 
rolled down the cheeks of the scout like rain. His fingers again 
worked convulsively at his throat, and his breast heaved, as if 
it possessed a tenant of which it would be rid, by any effort, 
however desperate. 

“ Pathfinder 1 — Pathfinder ! ” Mabel almost shrieked, “ any- 
thing but this — anything but this. Speak to me. Pathfinder — • 
smile again — say one kind word — anything to prove you can for 
give me.” 

“ The sergeant was wrong ! ” exclaimed the guide, laughing 


THE PATHFINDER. 


243 

amid his agony, in a way to terrify his companion by the un- 
natural mixture of anguish and light-heartedness. I knew it 
— knew it, and said it ; yes, the sergeant was wrong a’tef 
all.” 

“ We can be friends, though we cannot be man and wife,” 
continued Mabel almost as much disturbed as her companion, 
scarce knowing what she said; “we can always be friends, and 
always will.” 

“ I thought the sergeant was mistaken,” resumed the Path- 
finder, when a great effort had enabled him to command him- 
self, “ for I did not think my gifts were such as would please 
the fancy of a town-bred gal. It would have been better, Mabel, 
had he not over-persuaded me into a different notion ; and it 
might have been better, too, had you not been so pleasant and 
friendly like ; yes it would.” 

“ If I thought any error of mine had raised false expectations 
in you. Pathfinder, however unintentionally on my part, I should 
never forgive myself ; for, believe me, I would rather endure 
pain in my own feelings than you should suffer.” 

“That’s just it, Mabel; that’s just it. These speeches and 
opinions, spoken in so soft a voice, and in a way I’m unused to 
in the woods, have done the mischief. But I now see plainly, 
and begin to understand the difference between us better, and 
will strive to keep down thought, and to go abroad again as I 
used to do, looking for the game and the inimy. Ah’s me ; 
Mabel, I have indeed been on a false trail since we met ! ” 

“ But you will now travel on the true one. Ima little while 
you will forget all this, and think of me as a friend who owes 
you her life.” 

“ This may be the way in the town, but I doubt if it’s nat’ral 
to the woods. With us, when the eye sees a lovely sight it is 
apt to keep it long in view, or, when the mind takes in an up- 
right and proper feeling, it is loath to part with it.” 

“ But it is not a proper feeling that you should love me, nor 
am I a lovely sight. You will forget it all, when you come seri- 
ously to recollect that I am altogether unsuited to be your 
wife.” 

“ So I told the sergeant — but he would have it otherwise. I 
knew you was too young and beautiful for one of middle age, like 
myself, and who never was comely to look at, even in youth ; 
and then your ways have not been my ways, nor would a hunt 
er’s cabin be a fitting place for one who was edicated among 
chiefs, as it were. If I were younger and comelier, though, 
like Jasper Eau-douce ” 


244 


THE PATHFINDER 


“Never mind Jasper Eau-douce,” interrupted Mabel, im 
patiently; “'we can talk of something else.” 

“Jasper is a worthy lad, Mabel; ay, and a comely,” re< 
turned the guileless guide, looking earnestly at the girl, as if he 
distrusted her judgment in speaking slightingly of his friend 
“ Were I only half as comely as Jasper Western, my misgivings 
in this affair would not have been so great, and they might not 
have been so true.” 

“ We will not talk of Jasper Western,” repeated Mabel, the 
color mounting to her temples; “he may be good enough in 
a gale or on the lake, but he is not good enough to talk of 
here.” 

“ I fear me, Mabel, he is better than the man w'ho is likely 
to be your husband, though the sergeant says that never can take 
place. But the sergeant was wrong once, and he may be wrong 
twice.” 

“ And who is likely to be my husband. Pathfinder ? This 
is scarcely less strange than what has just passed between us ! ” 

“ I know it is nat’ral for like to seek like, and, for them that 
have consorted much with officers’ ladies, to wish to be officers’ 
ladies themselves. But, Mabel, I may speak plainly to you, I 
know, and I hope my words wall not give you pain, for, now I 
understand what it is to be disappointed in such feelings, I 
wouldn’t wish to cause even a Mingo sorrow on this head. But 
happiness is not always to be found in a marquee, any more 
than in a tent ; and, though the officers’ quarters may look 
more tempting than the rest of the barracks, there is often 
great misery between husband and wife inside of their doors.” 

“ I do not doubt it, in the least. Pathfinder ; and, did it rest 
with me to decide, I would sooner follow you to some cabin in 
the woods, and share your fortune, whether it might be better 
or worse, than go inside the door of any officer I know, with 
an intention of remaining there as its master’s wife.” 

“ Mabel, this is not what Lundie hopes or Lundie thinks.” 

“And what care I for Lundie? He major of the 55th, 
and may command his men to wheel and march about as he 
pleases, but he cannot compel me to wed the greatest or the 
meanest of his mess : besides, what can you know of Lundie’s 
wishes on such a subject ? ” 

“ From Lundie’s own mouth. The sergeant had told him 
that he wished me for a son-in-law ; and the major, being an 
old and a true friend, conversed with me on the subject : he 
put it to me plainly, whether it would not be more ginerous in 
me to let an officer succeed, than to strive to make you share a 


THE PA THFINDER. 


245 

hunter’s fortune. I owned the truth, I did ; and that was, that 
1 thought it might, but when he told me that the quartermastei 
would be his choice, 1 would not abide by the conditions. No 
— no — Mabel ; I know Davy Muir well, and though he may 
make you a lady, he can never make you a happy woman, 01 
himself a gentleman. I say this honestly, I do ; for I now 
plainly see that the sergeant has been wrong.” 

My father has been very wrong, if he has said or done 
aught to cause you sorrow, Pathfinder ; and so great is my 
respect for you, so sincere my friendship, that were it not for 
one — I mean that no person need fear Lieutenant Muir’s in- 
fluence with me. 1 would rather remain as I am, to my dying 
day, than beconxc a lady at the cost of being his wife.” 

“ I do not think you would say that which you do not feel, 
Mabel,” returned Pathfinder, earnestly. 

“ Not at such a moment,'on such a subject, and least of all 
to you. No ; Lieutenant Muir may find wives where he can — 
my name shall never be on his catalogue.” 

“ Thank you — thank you for that, Mabel ; for, though there 
is no longer any hope for me, I could never be happy were you 
to take to the quartermaster. I feared the commission might 
count for something, I did, and I know the man. It is not 
jealousy that makes me speak in this manner, but truth, for I 
know the man. Now, were you to fancy a deserving youth, one 
like Jasper Western, for instance ” 

“Why always mention Jasper Eau-douce, Pathfinder? he 
can have no concern with our friendships ; let us talk of your- 
self, and of the manner in which you intend to pass the winter.” 

“ Ah’s me ! I’m little worth at the best, Mabel, unless it 
may be on a trail, or with the rifle ; and less worth now that 
I’ve discovered the sargeant’s mistake. There is no need, 
therefore, of talking of me. It has been very pleasant to me to 
be near you so long, and even to fancy that the sargeant was 
right ; but that is all over now. I shall go down to the lake 
with Jasper, and then there will be business to occupy us, and 
that will keep useless thoughts out of the mind.” 

“ And you will forget this — forget me — no, not forget me 
either, Pathfinder ; but you will resume your old pursuits, and 
cease to think a girl of sufficient importance to disturb your 
peace ? ” 

“ I never know’d it afore, Mabel, but girls, as you call them, 
though gals is the name I’ve been taught to use, are of more 
account in this life than I could have believed. Now, afore I 
know’d you, the new-born babe did not sleep more sweetly than 


THE PATHFINDER. 


246 

I used to could ; my head was no sooner ?)n the root, or the 
stone, or mayhap on the skin, than all was lost to the senses, 
unless it might be to go over in the night the business of the 
day, in a dream, like ; and there J lay till the moment came to 
be stirring, and the swallows were not more certain to be on 
the wing with the light, than I to be afoot at the moment I 
wished to be. All this seemed a gift, and might be calculated 
on, even in the midst of a Mingo camp ; for I’ve been outlying, 
in my time, in the very villages of the vagabonds.” 

“ And all this will return to you. Pathfinder; for one so up- 
right and sincere will never waste his happiness on a mere fancy. 
You will dream again of your hunts, of the deer you have slain, 
and of the beaver you have taken.” 

“ Ah’s me, Mabel, I wish never to dream again ! Before we 
met I had a sort of pleasure in following up the hounds in fancy, 
as it might be ; and even in striking a trail of the Iroquois — ■ 
nay. I’ve been in skirmages and ambushments in thought like, 
and found satisfaction in it, according to my gifts ; but all those 
things have lost their charms since I’ve made acquaintance with 
you. Now, I think no longer of anything rude in my dreams, 
but, the very last night we stayed in the garrison, I imagined I 
had a cabin in a grove of sugar maples, and at the root of every 
tree was a Mabel Dunham, while the birds that were among the 
branches sang ballads, instead of the notes that natur’ gave, 
and even the deer stopped to listen. I tried to shoot a fa’an, 
but Killdeer missed fire, and the creatur’ laughed in my face, 
as pleasantly as a young girl laughs in her merriment, and then 
it bounded away, looking back as if expecting me to follow.” 

“ No more of this, Pathfinder — we’ll talk no more of these 
things,” said Mabel, dashing tears from her eyes ; for the sim- 
ple, earnest manner in which this hardy woodsman betrayed 
the deep hold she had taken of his feelings, nearly proved too 
much for her own generous heart. “ Now let us look for my 
father ; he cannot be distant, as I heard his gun quite near.” 

“ The sargeant was wrong — yes, he was wrong, and it’s of no 
use to attempt to make the dove consort with the wolf.” 

“ Here comes my dear father,” interrupted Mabel ; “ let us 
look cheerful and happy. Pathfinder, as such good friends ought 
to look, and keep each other’s secrets.” 

A pause succeeded ; the sergeant’s foot was heard crushing 
the dried twigs hard by, and then his form appeared shoving 
aside the bushes of a copse quite near. As he issued into the 
open ground the old soldier scrutinized his daughter and her 
companion, and, speaking good-naturedly he said ; 


THE PATHFINDEI^. 


247 


“ Mabel, child, you are young and light of foot — look for a 
bird I’ve shot that just fell beyond the thicket of young hem« 
locks on the shore; and, as Jasper is showing signs of an in- 
tention of getting under way, you need not take the trouble to 
climb up this hill again, but we will meet you on the beach in a 
few minutes.” 

Mabel obeyed, bounding down the hill with the elastic step 
of y )uth and health. But, notwithstanding the lightness of her 
steps, the heart of the girl was heavy, and no sooner was she 
hid from observation by the thicket, than she threw herself* on 
the root of a tree and wept as if her heart would break. The 
sergeant watched her, until she disappeared, with a father’s 
pride, and then turned to his companion with a smile as kind 
and as familiar as his habits would allow him to use toward 
any. 

“ She has her mother’s lightness and activity, my friend, 
with somewhat of her father’s force,” he said. “ Her mother 
was not quite as handsome, I think myself ; but the Dunhams 
were always thought comely, whether men or women. Well, 
Pathfinder, I take it for granted you’ve not overlooked the op- 
portunity, but have spoken plainly to the girl ? Women like 
frankness in matters of this sort.” 

“ I believe Mabel and I understand each other at last, sar- 
geant,” returned the other, looking another way to avoid the 
soldier’s face. 

“ So much the better. Some people fancy that a little doubt 
and uncertainty make love all the livelier, but I am one of those 
who think the plainer the tongue speaks the easier the mind 
will comprehend. Was Mabel surprised } ” 

“ I fear she was, sargeant ; 1 fear she was taken quite by 
surprise — ^yes I do.” 

“ Well, well, surprises in love are like an ambush in war, 
and quite as lawful ; though it is not as easy to tell when a wo- 
man is surprised as to tell when it happens to an enemy. 
Mabel did not run away, my worthy friend, did she ? ” 

“ No, sargeant, Mabel did not try to escape ; that I can say 
Adth a clear conscience.” 

“ I hope the girl was not too willing neither ! Her mother 
was shy and coy for a month, at least — but frankness, after all, 
is a recommendation in man or woman.” 

“That it is — that it is — and judgment too.” 

“ You are not to look for too much judgment in a young 
creature of twenty. Pathfinder, but it will come with experience. 
A mistake in you or me, for instance, might not be so easily 


THE PA TH HINDER, 


248 

overlooked, but in a girl of Mabel’s years one is not to strain 
at a gnat lest they swallow a camel.” 

The muscles of the listener’s face twitched, as the sergeant 
was thus delivering his sentiments, though the former had now 
recovered a portion of that stoicism which formed so large a 
part of his character, and which he had probably imbibed from 
long association with the Indians. His eyes rose and fell, and 
once a gleam shot athwart his hard features, as if he were about 
to indulge in his peculiar laugh ; but the joyous feeling, if it 
really existed, was as quickly lost in a look allied to anguish. 
It was this unusual mixture of wild and keen mental agony with 
native, simple joyousness, that had most struck Mabel, who, in 
the interview just related, had a dozen times been on the point 
of believing that her suitor’s heart was only lightly touched, as 
images of happiness and humor gleamed over a mind that was 
almost infantine in its simplicity and nature ; an impression, 
however, that was soon driven away by the discovery of emo- 
tions so painful and so deep, that they seemed to harrow the 
very soul. Indeed, in this respect, the Pathfinder was a mere 
child ; unpractised in the ways of the world, he had no idea of 
concealing a thought of any kind, and his mind received and 
reflected each emotion with the pliability and readiness of that 
period of life ; the infant scarcely yielding its wayward imagina- 
tion to the passing impression with greater facility than this 
man, so simple in all his personal feelings, so stern, stoical, 
masculine, and severe in all that touched his ordinary pursuits. 

“ You say true, sergeant,” Pathfinder answered ; “ a mistake 
in one like you is a more serious matter.” 

“ You wull find Mabel sincere and honest in the end, give 
her but a little time.” 

“ All’s me, sergeant ! ” 

“ A man of your merits would make an impression on a 
rock, give him time. Pathfinder.” 

“ Sergeant Dunham, we are old fellow campaigners — that 
is, as campaigns are carried on here in the wilderness ; and we 
have done so many kind acts to each other that we can afford 
to be candid — what has caused you to believe that a girl like 
Mabel could ever fancy one as rude as I am ?” 

“ Yfiiat ? — why a variety of reasons, and good reasons, too, 
my friend. Those same acts of kindness, perhaps, and the 
campaigns you mention ; moreover, you are my sworn and tried 
comrade.” 

“ All this sounds well, so far as you and I be consarned, 
but they do not touch the case of your pretty daughter. Shs 


THE PATHFINDER. 


249 

may think these very campaigns have destroyed the little come- 
liness I may once have had, and I am not quite sartain that 
being an old friend of her father would lead any young maiden’s 
mind into a particular affection for a suitor. Like loves like, I 
tell you, sergeant, and my gifts are not altogether the gifts of 
Mabel Dunham. 

“ These are some of your old modest qualms. Pathfinder, 
and will do you no credit with the girl. Women distrust men 
who distrust themselves, and take to men who distrust nothing. 
Modesty is a capital thing in a recruit, I grant you, or in a 
young subaltern who has just joined, for it prevents his railing 
at the non-commissioned officers before he knows what to rail 
at ; Tm not sure it is out of place in a commissary or a parson, 
but it’s the devil and all when it gets possession of either a real 
soldier or a lover. Have as little to do with it as possible, if 
you would win a woman’s heart. As for your doctrine that like 
love likes, it is as wrong as possible in matters of this sort. If 
like loved like, women would love one another, and men also. 
No — no — like loves dislike ” — the sergeant was merely a scholar 
of the camp — “ and you have nothing to fear from Mabel on 
that score. Look at Lieutenant Muir ; the man has had five 
wives already, they tell me, and there is no more modesty in 
him than there is in a cat-o ’-nine- tails.” 

“ Lieutenant Muir will never be the husband of Mabel 
Dunham, let him ruffle his feathers as much as he may.” 

^‘That is a sensible remark of yours, Pathfinder, for my 
mind is made up that you shall be my son-in-law. If I were an 
officer myself, Mr. Muir might have some chance ; but time has 
placed one door between my child and myself, and I don’t in- 
tend there shall be that of a marquee also.” 

“ Sergeant, we must let Mabel follow her own fancy ; she 
is young and light of heart, and God forbid that any wish of 
mine should lay the weight of a feather on a mind that is all 
gayety now', or take one note of happiness from her laughter.” 

“ Have you conversed freely with the girl ? ” the sergeant 
demanded, quickly, and with some asperity of manner. 

Pathfinder was too honest to deny a truth plain as that 
which the answer required, and yet too honorable to betray 
Mabel, and expose her to the resentment of one whom he well 
knew to be stern in his anger. 

“ We have laid open our minds,” he said, “ and, though 
Mabel’s is one that any man might love to look at, I find little 
there, sergeant, to make me think any better of myself.” 


/ 


250 


THE PATHFINDER. 


‘‘The girl has not dared to refuse you — to refuse het 
father’s best friend ? ” 

Pathfinder turned his face away to conceal the look of an« 
guish, that consciousness told him was passing athwart it, but 
he continued the discourse in his own quiet, manly tones. 

“ Mabel is too kind to refuse anything, or to utter harsh 
words to a dog. I have not put the question in a way to be 
downright refused, sergeant.” 

“ And did you expect my daughter to jump into your arms 
before you asked her She would not have been her mother’s 
child had she done any such thing, nor do I think she would 
have been mine. The Dunhams like plain dealing as well as 
the king’s majesty, but they are no jumpers. Leave me to 
manage this matter for you. Pathfinder, and there shall be no 
unnecessary delay. I’ll speak to Mabel myself, this very even- 
ing, using your name as principal in the affair.” 

“I’d rather not — I’d rather not, sergeant. Leave the mat- 
ter to Mabel and me, and I think all will come right in the ind. 
Young gals be like timorsome birds, they do not over-relish 
being hurried or spoken harshly to, neither. Leave the matter 
to Mabel and me.” 

“ On one condition I will, my friend ; and that is, that you 
promise me, on the honor of a scout, that you will put the mat- 
ter plainly to Mabel the first suitable opportunity, and no 
mincing of words.” 

“ I will ask her, sergeant — yes, I will ask her, on condition 
that you promise not to meddle in the affair — yes, I will prom- 
ise to ask Mabel the question whether she will marry me, 
even though she laugh in my face at my doing so, on that con- 
dition.” 

Sergeant Dunham gave the desired promise very cheerfully 
for he had completely wrought himself up into the belief that 
the man he so much esteemed and respected himself, must be 
acceptable to his daughter. He had married a woman much 
younger than himself, and he saw no unfitness in the respec- 
tive years of the intended couple. Mabel was educated so 
much above him, too, that he was not aware of the difference 
which actually existed between the parent and child, in this 
respect ; for it is one of the most unpleasant features in the 
intercourse between knowledge and ignorance, taste and un- 
sophistication, refinement and vulgarity, that the higher quali- 
ties are often necessarily subjected to the judgments of those 
who have absolutely no perception of their existence. It fol- 


THE PATHFINDER. 


251- 

lowed that Sergeant Dunham was not altogether qualified to 
appreciate his daughter’s tastes, or to form a very probable 
conjecture of the direction taken by those feelings, which of 
tener depend on impulses and passion than on reason. Still, 
the worthy soldier was not so wrong in his estimate of the 
Pathfinder’s chances, as might at first appear. Knowing as he 
well did, all the sterling qualities of the man, his truth, in- 
tegrity of purpose, courage, self-devotion, disinterestedness, it 
was far more unreasonable to suppose that qualities like these 
would produce a deep impression on any female heart, where 
there was an opportunity to acquire a knowledge of their ex- 
istence ; and the father erred principally in fancying that the 
daughter might know, as it might be, by intuition, what he him- 
self had acquired by years of intercourse and adventure. 

As Pathfinder and his military friend descended the hill to 
the shore of the lake, the discourse did not flag. The latter 
continued to persuade the former that his diffidence alone pre- 
vented complete success with Mabel, and that he had only to 
persevere in order to prevail. Pathfinder was much too modest 
by nature, and had been too plainly, though so delicately, dis- 
couraged, in the recent interview, to believe all he heard ; still 
the father used so many arguments that seemed plausible, and 
it was so grateful to fancy that the daughter might yet be his, 
the reader is not to be surprised when he is told that this un- 
sophisticated being did not view Mabel’s recent conduct in 
precisely the light in which he may be inclined to view it him- 
self. He did not credit all that the sergeant told him, it is 
true ; but he began to think virgin coyness, and ignorance of 
her own feelings, might have induced Mabel to use the lan- 
guage she had. 

“The quartermaster is no favorite,” said Pathfinder, in an- 
swer to one of his companion’s remarks. “ Mabel will never 
look on him as more than one who has had four 01 five wives 
already.” 

“ Which is more than his share. A man may marry twice, 
without offence to good morals and decency, I allow, but four 
times is an aggravation.” 

“ I should think even marrying once, what Master Cap 
calls a circumstance ! ” put in Pathfinder, laughing in his quiet 
way, for, by this time, his spirits had recovered some of their 
buoyancy. 

“ It is, indeed, my friend, and a most solemn circumstance, 
too. If it were not that Mabel is to be your wife I would 


THE PA THFINDER, 


252 

a'dvise you to remain single. But here is the girl herself, and 
discretion is the word.” 

“ Ah‘s me ! sargeant, I fear you are mistaken 1 ” 


CHAPTER XIX. 


“ Thus was this place 

A happy rural seat of various views.” ^ ' 

—Milton- 

Mabel was in waiting on the beach, and the canoe was 
soon launched. Pathfinder carried the party out through the 
surf in the same skilful manner he had brought it in ; and 
though Mabel’s color heightened with excitement, and her 
heart seemed often ready to leap out of her mouth again, they 
reached the side of the Scud without having received even a 
drop of spray. 

Ontario is like a quick-tempered man, sudden to be angered, 
and as soon appeased. The sea had already fallen, and, 
though the breakers bounded the shore as far as the eye could 
reach, it was merely in lines of brightness, that appeared and 
vanished like the returning waves produced by a stone that has 
been dropped into a pool. The cable of the Scud was scarce 
seen above the water, and Jasper had already hoisted his sails, 
in readiness to depart, as soon as the expected breeze from the 
shore should fill the canvas. 

It was just sunset as the cutter’s mainsail flapped, and its 
stem began to sever the water. The air was light and southerly, 
and the head of the vessel was kept looking up along the south 
shore, it being the intention to get to the eastward again as 
fast as possible. The night that succeeded was quiet, and the 
rest of those who slept, deep and tranquil. . 

Some difficulty occurred concerning the command of the 
vessel, but the matter had been finally settled by an amicable 
compromise. As the distrust of Jasper was far from being ap- 
peased, Cap retained a supervisory power, while the young man 
was allowed to work the craft, subject at all times to the con 
trol and interference of the old seaman. To this Jasper con 
sented, in preference to exposing Mabel any longer to the dan 
gers of their present situation ; for, now that the violence of 
the elements had ceased, he well knew that the Montcalm 


THE PATHFINDER, 


253 


would be in search of them. He had the discretion, however, 
not to reveal his apprehensions on this head, for it happened 
that the very means he deemed the best to escape the enemy, 
were those which would be most likely to awaken new suspr 
cions of his honesty in the minds of those who held the power 
to defeat his intentions. In other words, Jasper believed that 
the gallant young Frenchman who commanded the ship of the 
enemy, would quit his anchorage under the fort of Niagara, 
and stand up the lake, as soon as the wind abated, in order to 
ascertain the fate of the Scud ; keeping midway between the 
two shores, as the best means of commanding a broad view ; 
and that, on his part, it would be expedient to hug one coast 
or the other, not only to avoid a meeting, but as affording a 
chance of passing without detection, by blending his sails and 
spars with objects on the land. He preferred the south, be- 
cause it was the weather shore, and because he thought it was 
that which the enemy would the least expect him to take, 
though it necessarily led near his settlements, and in front of 
one of the strongest posts he held in that part of the world. 

Of all this, however. Cap was happily ignorant, and the 
sergeant’s mind was too much occupied with the details of his 
military trust to enter into these niceties, which so properly 
belonged to another profession. No opposition was made, 
therefore, and, ere morning, Jasper had apparently dropped 
quietly into all his former authority, issuing his orders freely, 
and meeting with obedience without hesitation or cavil. 

The appearance of day brought all on board on deck again, 
and, as is usual with adventurers on the water, the opening 
horizon was curiously examined, as objects started out of the 
obscurity and the panorama brightened under the growing 
light. East, west, and north, nothing was visible but water, 
glittering in the rising sun ; but southward, stretched the end- 
less belt of woods that then held Ontario in a setting of forest 
verdure. Suddenly an opening appeared ahead, and then the 
massive walls of a chateau-looking house, with outworks, bas- 
tions, block-houses, and palisadoes, frowned on a headland 
that bordered the outlet of a broad stream. Just as the fort 
became visible a little cloud rose over it, and the white ensign 
of France was seen fluttering from a lofty flag-staff. 

Cap gave an ejaculation as he witnessed this ungrateful ex- 
hibition, and he cast a quick, suspicious glance at his brother- 
in-law. 

“ The dirty table-cloth hung up to the air, as my name is 
Charles Cap!” he muttered, “ and we hugging this d d 


THE PA THFINDER, 


254 

shore, as if it were our wife and children, met on the return from 
an India v’y’ge ! Harkee, Jasper, are you in search of a cargo 
of frogs, that you keep so near in to this New France ? ” 

I hug the land, sir, in the hope of passing the enemy’s 
ship without being seen, for I think she must be somewhere 
down here to leeward.” 

“ Ay, ay ; this sounds well, and I hope it may turn out as 
you say. I trust there is no undertow here 1 ” 

“We are on the weather shore, now,” said Jasper, smiling; 
“ and I think you will admit. Master Cap, that a strong under- 
tow makes an easy cable ; we owe all our lives to the under- 
tow of this very lake.” 

“ French flummery ! ” growled Cap, though he did not card 
to be heard by Jasper. “Give me a fair, honest, English- 
Yankee- American tow, above board, and above water too, if I 
must have a tow at all, and none of your sneaking drift that is 
below the surface, where one can neither see nor feel. I dare 
say, if the truth could be come at, that this late escape of ours 
was all a contrived affair.” 

“ We have now a good opportunity, at least, to reconnoitre 
the enemy’s post at Niagara, brother, for such I take this fort 
to be,” put in the sergeant. “ Let us be all eyes in passing, 
and remember that we are almost in the face of the enemy.” 

This advice of the sergeant’s needed nothing to enforce it, 
for the interest and novelty of passing a spot occupied by hu- 
man beings were of themselves sufficient to attract deep atten- 
tion in that scene of a vast but deserted nature. The wind 
was now fresh enough to urge the Scud through the water with 
considerable velocity, and Jasper eased her helm as she opened 
the river, and luffed nearly into the mouth of that noble strait, 
or river, as it is termed. A dull, distant, heavy roar came 
down through the opening in the banks, swelling on the 
currents of the air, like the deeper notes of some immense or- 
gan, and occasionally seeming to cause the earth itself to trem- 
ble. 

“ That sounds like surf on some long, unbroken coast ! ’’ 
exclaimed Cap, as a swell deeper than common came to his 
ears. 

“ Ay, that is such surf as we have in this quarter of the 
world,” Pathfinder answered. “ There is no undertow there. 
Master Cap, but all the water that strikes the rocks stays there, 
so far as going back ag’in is consarned. That is old Niagara 
that you hear, or this noble stream tumbling down a moun- 
tain 1 ” 


THE PA THFINDER. 


2S5 

No one will have the impudence to pretend that this fine 
broad river falls over yonder hills ? ” 

“ It does, Master Cap, it does ; and all for the want of 
stairs, or a road, to come down by. This is natur’, as we have 
it up hereaway, though I dare say you beat us down on the 
ocean. Ah’s me ! Mabel ; a pleasant hour it would be if we 
could walk on the shore some ten or fifteen miles up this stream, 
and gaze on all that God has done there ! ” 

‘‘You have, then, seen these renowned falls. Pathfinder?” 
the girl eagerly inquired. 

“ I have — yes, I have ; and an awful sight I witnessed at 
that same time. The Sarpent and I were out scouting about 
the garrison there, when he told me that the traditions of his 
people gave an account of a mighty cataract in this neighbor- 
hood, and he asked me to vary from the line of march a little, 
to look at the wonder. I had heard some marvels consarning 
the spot, from the soldiers of the both, which is my nat’ral corps 
like, and not tbe 55th, with which I have sojourned so much 
of late ; but there are so many terrible liars in all rijiments, 
that I hardly believed half they told me. Well, we went; and 
though, w'e expected to be led by our ears, and to hear some 
of that awful roaring that we hear to day, we were disapp’inted, 
for natur’ was not then speaking in thunder, as she is this morn- 
ing, Thus it is, in the forest, Master Cap ; there being mo- 
ments when God seems to be walking abroad in power, and, 
then again, there is a calm over all, as if His spirit lay in quiet 
along the ’arth. Well, we came suddenly upon the stream, a 
short distance above the fall, and a young Delaware, who was 
in our company, found' a bark canoe, and he would push into 
the current, to reach an island that lies in the very centre of 
the confusion and strife. ' We told him of his folly, we did, 
and we reasoned with him on the wickedness of tempting Prov- 
idence by seeking danger that led to no ind ; but the youth 
among the Delawares are v^ry much the same as the youth 
among the soldiers, risky and vain. All we could say did not 
change his mind, and the lad had his way. To me it seems, 
Mabel, that whenever a thing is really grand and potent, it has 
a quiet majesty about it, that is altogether unlike the frothy 
and flustering manner of smaller matters, and so it was with 
them rapids. The canoe was no sooner fairly in them, than 
down it went, as it might be, as one sails through the air on 
the ’arth, and no skill of the young Delaware could resist the 
stream. And yet he struggled manfully for life, using the pad- 
dle to the last, like the deer that is swimming to cast the 


THE PATHFINDER, 


256 

hounds. At first, he shot across the current so swiftly liiai 
thought he would prevail, but he had miscalculated his dis^ 
tance, and when the truth really struck him, he turned the 
head up stream, and struggled in a way that was fearful to look 
at. I could have pitied him even had he been a Mingo ! For 
a few moments his efforts were so frantic, that he actually pre- 
vailed over the power of the cataract ; but natur’ has its limits, 
and one faltering stroke of the paddle sent him back, and then 
he lost ground, foot by foot, inch by inch, until he got near the 
spot where the river looked even and green, and as if it were 
made of millions of threads of water, all bent over some huge 
rock, when he shot backward like an arrow and disappeared, 
the bow of the canoe tipping just enough to let us see what 
had become of him. I met a Mohawk, some years later, who 
had witnessed the whole affair from the bed of the stream be- 
low, and he told me that the Delaware continued to paddle in 
the air, until he was lost in the mists of the falls ! ’’ 

“ And what became of the poor wretch ? ” demanded Mabel, 
who had been strongly interested by the natural eloquence of 
the speaker. 

“ He went to the happy hunting-grounds of his people, no 
doubt ; for, though he was risky and vain, he was also just and 
brave. Yes, he died foolishly, but the Manitou of the red- 
skins has compassion on his creatur’s as well as the God of a 
Christian I ” 

A gun at this moment was discharged from a block-house 
near the fort, and the shot, one of little weight, came whistling 
over the cutter’s mast, an admonition to approach no nearer. 
Jasper was at the helm, and he kept away, smiling at the same 
time as if he felt no anger at the rudeness of the salutation. The 
Scud was now in the current, and her outward set soon carried 
her far enough to leeward to avoid the danger of a repetition 
of the shot, and then she quietly continued her course along 
the land. As soon as the river was fairly opened, Jasper as- 
certained that the Montcalm was not at anchor in it ; and a 
man sent aloft came down with the report that the horizon 
showed no sail. The hope was now strong that the artifice of 
Jasper had succeeded and that the French commander had 
missed them by keeping the middle of the lake a^ he steered 
toward its head. 

All that day the wind hung to the southward, and the cut- 
ter continued her course, about a league from the land, running 
six or eight knots an hour in perfectly smooth water. Although 
the scene had one feature of monotony, the outline of unbroken 


THE PATHFINDER, 


*57 

forest, it was not without its interest and pleasures. Various 
h2adlands presented themselves, and the cutter, in running 
from one to another, stretched across bays so deep as almost 
to deserve the name of gulfs, but nowhere did the eye meet 
with the evidences of civilization. Rivers occasionally poured 
their tribute into the great reservoir of the lake, but their banks 
could be traced inland for miles by the same outline of trees ; 
and even large bays that lay embosomed in woods, communi- 
cating with Ontario only by narrow outlets, appeared and dis- 
appeared without bringing with them a single trace of a human 
habitation. 

Of all on board, the Pathfinder viewed the scene with the 
most unmingled delight. His eyes feasted on the endless line 
of forest, and, more than once that day, notwithstanding he 
found it so grateful to be near Mabel, listening to her pleasant 
voice, and echoing, in feelings at least, her joyous laugh, did 
his soul pine to be wandering beneath the high arches of the 
maples, oaks, and lindens, where his habits had induced him to 
fancy lasting and true joys were only to be found. Cap viewed 
the prospect differently. More than once he expressed his dis- 
gust at there being no light-houses, church-towers, beacons, or 
roadsteads with their shipping. Such another coast, he pro- 
tested, the world did not contain ; and, taking the sergeant 
aside, he gravely assured him that the region could never come 
to anything, as the havens were neglected, the rivers had a 
deserted and useless look, and that even the breeze had a smell 
of the forest about it, which spoke ill of its properties. 

But the humors of the different individuals in her did not 
stay the speed of the Scud. When the sun was setting, she 
was already a hundred miles on her route toward Oswego, into 
which river Sergeant Dunham now thought it his duty to go in 
order to receive any communications that Major Duncan might 
please to make. With a view to effect this purpose, Jasper 
continued to hug the shore all night ; and, though the wind be- 
gan to fail him toward morning, it lasted long enough to carry 
the cutter up to a point that was known to be but a league or 
two from the fort. Here the breeze came out light at the north- 
ward, and the cutter hauled a little from the land In order to 
obtain a safe offing should it come on to blow, or should the 
weather again get to be easterly. 

When the day dawned, the cutter had the mouth of the 
Oswego well under her lee, distant about two miles, and just as 
the morning gun from the fort was fired, Jasper gave the order 
to ease off the sheets, and to bear up for his port. At fhat 


THE PATHFINDER, 


moment a cry from the forecastle drew all eyes toward the 
point on the eastern side of the outlet, and there, just without 
the range of shot from the light guns of the works, with her 
canvas reduced to barely enough to keep her stationary, lay the 
Montcalm, evidently in waiting for their appearance. To pass 
her was impossible, for, by filling her sails, the French ship 
could have intercepted them in a few minutes ; and the circum- 
stances called for a prompt decision. After a short consulta- 
tion, the sergeant again changed his plan, determining to make 
the best of his way toward the station for which he had been 
originally destined, trusting to the speed of the Scud to throw 
the enemy so far astern, as to leave no clue to her movements. 

The cutter, accordingly, hauled upon a wind, with the least 
possible delay, with everything set that would draw. Guns 
were fired from the fort, ensigns shown, and the ramparts were 
again crowded. But sympathy was all the aid that Lundie 
could lend to his party ; and the Montcalm, also firing four or 
five guns of defiance, and throwing abroad several of the ban- 
ners of France, was soon in chase, under a cloud of canvas. 

For several hours the two vessels were pressing through the 
water as fast as possible, making short stretches to windward, 
apparently with a view to keep the port under their lee, the one 
to enter it, if possible, and the other to intercept it in the at- 
tempt. 

At meridian, the French ship was hull down dead to lee- 
ward, the disparity of sailing on a wind being very great, and 
some islands were near by, behind which Jasper said it would 
be possible for the cutter to conceal her future movements. 
Although Cap and the sergeant, and particularly Lieutenant 
Muir, to judge by his language, still felt a good deal of distrust 
of the young man, and Frontenac was not distant, this advice 
was followed, for time pressed, and the quartermaster discreetly 
observed that Jasper could not well betray them, without run- 
ning openly into the enemy’s harbor — a step they could at any 
time prevent, since the only cruiser of force the French pos- 
sessed, at the moment, was under their lee, and not in a situa- 
tion to do them any immediate injury. 

Left to himself, Jasper Western soon proved how much was 
really in him. He weathered upon the islands, passed them, 
and, on coming out to the eastward, kept broad away, with 
nothing in sight in his wake or to leeward. By sunset, again, 
the cutter was up with the first of the islands that lie in the 
outlet of the lake, and ere it was dark she was running through 
»he narrow channels on her way to the long-sought station. At 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


259 

nine o’clock, however, Cap insisted that they should anchor, 
for the maze of islands became so complicated and obscure, 
that he feared, at every opening the party would find themselves 
under the guns of a French fort. Jasper consented cheerfully, 
it being a part of his standing instructions to approach the 
station under such circumstances as would prevent the men 
from obtaining any very accurate notions of its position, lest a 
deserter might betray the little garrison to the enemy. 

The Scud was brought to in a small retired bay, where it 
would have been difficult to find her by daylight, and where 
she was perfectly concealed at night, when all but a solitary 
sentinel on deck sought their rest. Cap had been so harrassed 
during the previous eight-and-forty hours, that his slumbers 
were long and deep, nor did he awake from his first nap until 
the day was just beginning to dawn. His eyes were scarcely 
open, however, when his nautical instinct told him that the 
cutter was under way. Springing up, he found the Scud thread- 
ing the islands again, with no one on deck but Jasper and the 
pilot, unless the sentinel be excepted, who had not in the least 
interfered with movements that he had every reason to believe 
were as regular as they were necessary. 

“ How’s this. Master Western ? ” demanded Cap, with 
sufficient fierceness for the occasion — “ are you running us into 
Frontenac at last, and we all asleep below, like so many marines 
waiting for the ‘ sentry go ? ’ ” 

“ This is according to orders. Master Cap, Major Duncan 
having commanded me never to approach the station unless at 
a moment when the people were below ; for he does not wish 
there should be more pilots in these waters than the king has 
need of.” 

“ Whe-ew ! ” a pretty job I should have made of running 
down among these bushes and rocks, with no one on deck ! 
Why, a regular York branch could make nothing at all of such 
a channel.” 

“I always thought, sir,” said Jasper, smiling, “you would 
have done better had you left the cutter in my hands until she 
had safely reached her place of destination.” 

“We should have done it, Jasper; we should have done it, 
had it not been for a circumstance — these circumstances are 
serious matters, and no prudent man will overlook them.” 

“ Well, sir, I hope there is now an end of them. We shall 
arrive in less than an hour, if the wind hold, and then you’ll be 
safe from any circumstances that I can contrive.” 

“ Humph ! ” 


26 o 


THE 


Cap was obliged to acquiesce, and, as everything around him 
had the appearance of Jasper’s being sincere, there was not 
much difficulty in making up his mind to submit. It would not 
have been easy, indeed, for a person the most sensitive on the 
subject of circumstances, to fancy that the Scud was anywhere 
in the vicinity of a port as long established, and as well known 
on the frontier, as Frontenac. The islands might not have 
been literally a thousand in number, but they were so numerous 
and small as to baffle calculation, though occasionally one of 
larger size than common was passed. Jasper had quitted what 
might have been termed the main channel, and was winding 
his way with a good stiff breeze, and a favorable current, 
through passes that were sometimes so narrow that there ap 
peared to be barely room sufficient for the Scud’s spars to clear 
the trees, while at other moments he shot across little bays, 
and buried the cutter again amid rocks, forests, and bushes. 
The water was so transparent that there was no occasion for 
the lead, and, being of equal depth little risk was actually run, 
though Cap, with his maritime habits, was in a constant fever 
lest they should strike. 

“ I give it up ! — I give it up. Pathfinder I ” the old seaman 
at length exclaimed, when the little vessel emerged in safety 
from the twentieth of these narrow inlets, through which she 
had been so boldly carried ; “ this is defying the very nature of 
seamanship, and sending all its laws and rules to the d — 1 ! ” 
“Nay, nay. Salt-water; ’tis the parfection of the art. You 
perceive that Jasper never falters, but, like a hound with a true 
nose, he runs with his head high, as if he had a strong scent 
My life on it the lad brings us out right in the ind, as he woula 
have done in the beginning had we given him leave.” 

“ No pilot, no lead, no beacons, b^uoys, or lighthouses, no — ” 
“Trail!” interrupted Pathfinder, “for that to me is the 
most mysterious part of the business. Water leaves no trail, 
as every one knows, and yet here is Jasper moving ahead as 
boldly as if he had before his eyes the prints of moccasins on 
leaves, as plainly as we can see the sun in the heaven.” 

“ D e, if I believe there is even any compass 1 ” 

“ Stand by, to haul down the jib,” called out Jasper, who 
merely smiled at the remarks of his companion. “ Haul down 
— starboard your helm — starboard hard — so — meet her — gently 
there with the helm — touch her lightly — now jump ashore with 
the fast, lads — no, heave — there are some of our people ready 
to take It.” 

All this passed so quickly as barely to allow the spectators 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


261 


time to note the different evolutions, ere the Scud nad been 
thrown into the wind until her mainsail shivered, next cast a 
little by the use of the rudder only, and then she set bodily 
alongside or a natural rocky quay, where she was immediately 
secured by good fasts run to the shore. In a word, the station 
was reached, and the men of the 55th were greeted by their 
expecting comrades with the satisfaction that a relief usually 
brings. 

Mabel sprang upon the shore with a delight which she did 
not care to express, and her father led his men after her with 
an alacrity which proved how wearied he had become of the 
cutter. The Station, as the place was familiarly termed by the 
soldiers of the 5Sth, was indeed a spot to raise expectations of 
enjoyment among those who had been cooped up so long in a 
vessel of the dimensions of the Scud. None of the islands were 
high, though all lay at a sufficient elevation above the water to 
render them perfectly healthy and secure. Each had more or 
less of wood, and the greater number at that distant day were 
clothed with the virgin forest. The one selected by the troops 
for their purpose was small, containing about twenty acres of 
land, and by some of the accidents of the wilderness it had been 
stripped of its trees, probably centuries before the period of 
which we are writing, and a little grassy glade covered nearly 
half its surface. It was the opinion of the officer who had made 
the selection of this spot for a military post, that a sparkling 
spring near by had early caught the attention of the Indians, 
and that they had long frequented this particular place, in their 
hunts, or when fishing for salmon — a circumstance that had 
kept down the second growth, and given time for the natural 
grasses to take root, and to gain dominion over the soil. Let 
the cause be what it might, the effect was to render this island 
far more beautiful than most of those around it, and to lend it 
an air of civilization that was then wanting in so much of that 
vast region of country. 

The shores of Station Island were completely fringed with 
bushes, and great care had been taken to preserve them, as 
they answered as a screen to conceal the persons and things 
collected within their circle. Favored by this shelter, as 
well as by that of several thickets of trees and different copses, 
some six or eight low huts had been erected to be used as 
quarters for the officer and his men, to contain stores, and to 
serve the purposes of kitchen, hospital, etc. These huts were 
built of logs, in the usual manner, had been roofed by bark 
brought from a distance, lest the signs of labor should attract 


262 


THE PATHFINDER. 


attention, and, as they had now been inhabited some months^ 1 
were as comfortable as dwellings of that description usually I 
ever get to be. ^ I 

At the eastern extremity of the island, however, w^as a | 
densely-wooded peninsula, with a thicket of underbush ^ so 
closely matted as nearly to prevent the possibility of seeing 
across it so long as the leaves remained on the branches. 
Near the narrow neck that connected this acre with the rest 
of the island, a small block-house had been erected with some 
attention to its means of resistance. The logs were bullet- ^ 
proof, squared and jointed with a care to leave no defenseless 
points ; the windows were loopholes ; the door massive 
and small ; and the roof, like the rest of the structure, was 
framed of hewn timber, covered properly with bark to exclude 
the rain. The lower apartment, as usual, contained stores and 
provisions ; the second story was intended for a dwelling, as 
well as for the citadel, and a low garret was subdivided into 
two or three rooms, and could hold the pallets of some ten or 
fifteen persons. All the arrangements were exceedingly simple 
and cheap, but they were sufficient to protect the soldiers 
against the effects of a surprise. As the whole building was 
considerably less than forty feet high, its summit was concealed 
by the tops of the trees, except from the eyes of those who had 
reached the interior of the island. On that side the view was 
open from the upper loops, though bushes, even there, more or 
less concealed the base of the wooden tower. 

The object being purely defence, care had been taken to 
place the block-house so near an opening in the limestone rock 
that formed the base of the island, as to admit of a bucket’s 
being dropped into the water in order to obtain that great es- 
sential in the event of a siege. In order to facilitate this opera- 
tion, and to enfilade the base of the building, the upper stories 
projected several feet beyond the lower in the manner usual to 
block-houses, and pieces of wood filled the apertures cut in the 
log flooring, which were intended as loops and traps. The 
communications between the different stories were by means 
of ladders. If we add that these block-houses were intended as 
citadels, for garrisons or settlements to retreat to in cases of 
attack, the general reader will obtain a sufficiently correct idea 
of the arrangements it is our wish to explain. 

But the situation of the island itself formed its principal 
merit as a military position. Lying in the midst of twenty 
others, it was not an easy matter to find it, since boats might 
pass quite near, and, by the glimpses caught through the operv 


THE PATHFINDER. 


^3 

ings, this particular island would be taken for a part of s^ne 
other. Indeed, the channels between the islands that lay 
around the one we have been describing were so narrow, that 
•t was even difficult to say which portions of the land were con* 
nected, or which separated, even as one stood in their centre, 
with the express desire of ascertaining the truth. The little 
bay in particular, that Jasper used as a harbor, was so embow- 
ered witn bushes and shut in with islands, that, the sails of the 
cutter being lowered, her own people, on one occasion, had 
searched for hours before they could find the Scud, in their re- 
turn from a short excursion among the adjacent channels, in 
quest of fish. In short, the place was admirably adapted to its 
present uses, and its natural advantages had been as ingeni- 
ously improved as economy and the limited means of a frontier 
post would very well allow. 

The hour that succeeded the arrival of the Scud was one of 
hurried excitement. The party in possession had done nothing 
worthy of being mentioned, and, wearied with their seclusion, 
they were all eager to return to Oswego. The sergeant and 
the officer he came to relieve, had no sooner gone through the 
little ceremonies of transferring the command, than the latter 
hurried on board the Scud with his whole party ; and Jasper, 
who would gladly have passed the day on the island, was re- 
quired to get under way forthwith, the wind promising a quick 
passage up the river and across the lake. Before separating, 
however. Lieutenant Muir, Cap, and a sergeant, had a private 
conference with the ensign who had been relieved, in which 
the latter was made acquainted with the suspicions that existed 
against the fidelity of the young sailor. Promising due caution 
the officer embarked, and, in less than three hours from the 
time when she had arrived, the cutter was again in motion. 

Mabel had taken possession of a hut, and with female readi- 
ness and skill she made all the simple little domestic arrange- 
ments of which the circumstances would admit, not only for her 
own comfort, but for that of her father. To save labor, a mess 
table was prepared in a hut set apart for that purpose, where 
all the heads of the detachment were to eat, the soldier’s wife 
performing the necessary labor. The hut of the sergeant, which 
was the best on the island, being thus freed from any of the 
vulgar offices of a household, admitted of such a display of 
womanly taste, that, for the first time since her arrival on the 
frontier, the girl felt proud of her home. As soon as these im- 
portant duties were discharged, she strolled out on the island, 
taking a path that led through the pretty glade, and which con- 


THE PA THFINDER, 


264 

ducted to the only point that was not covered with bushes. 
Here she stood gazing at the limpid water, which lay with 
scarcely a ruffle on it at her feet, musing on the novel situation 
in which she was placed, and permitting a pleasing and deep 
excitement to steal over her feelings, as she remembered the 
scenes through which she had so lately passed, and conjec- 
tured those which still lay veiled in the future. 

‘‘ You’re a beautiful fixture, in a beautiful spot. Mistress 
Mabel,” said David Muir, suddenly appearing at her elbow, 
“ and I’ll no engage you’re not just the handsomest of the 
two.” 

“ I will not say, Mr. Muir, that compliments on my person 
are altogether unwelcome, for I should not gain credit for 
speaking the truth, perhaps,” answered Mabel, with spirit; 

but I will say that, if you will condescend to address to me 
some remarks of a different nature, I may be led to believe you 
think I have sufficient faculties to understand them.” 

“ Hoot ! your mind, beautiful Mabel, is polished just like 
the barrel of a soldier’s musket, and your conversation is only 
too discreet and wise for a poor d — 1 who has been chewing 
birch up here these four years on the lines, instead of receiving 
it in an application that has the virtue of imparting knowdedge. 
But you are no sorry, I take it, young lady, that you’ve got 
your pretty foot on terra firma once more.” 

“ I thought so, two hours since, Mr. Muir ; but the Scud 
looks so beautiful, as she sails through these vistas of trees, 
that I almost regret I am no longer one of her passen- 
gers.” 

As Mabel ceased speaking, she waved her handkerchief in 
return to a salutation from Jasper, w'ho kept his eyes fastened 
on her form, until the white sails of the cutter had swept round 
a point, and were nearly lost behind its green fringe of leaves. 

“ There they go, and I’ll no say ‘joy go with them,’ but may 
they have the luck to return safely, for without them we shall 
be in danger of passing the wdnter on this island ; unless in- 
deed, we have the alternative of the castle at Quebec ! Yon 
Jasper Eau douce is a vagrant sort of a lad, and they have re- 
ports of him in the garrison that it pains my very heart to hear. 
Your worthy father, and almost as worthy uncle, have none of 
the best opinion of him.” 

“I am sorry to^ hear it, Mr. Muir ; I doubt not that time 
will remove all their distrust.” 

“ If time would only remove mine, pretty Mabel,” rejoined 
the quartermaster, in a wheedling tone, “ I should feel no envy 


THE PATHFINDER, 


265 

of the commander-in-chief. I think if I were in a condition to 
retire, the sergeant would just step into my shoes.’’ 

“ If my dear father is worthy to step into your shoes, Mr. 
Muir,” returned the girl, with malicious pleasure, “ I am sure 
the qualification is mutual, and that you are every way worthy 
to step into his.” 

“ The deuce is in the child ! you would not reduce me to the 
rank of a non-commissioned officer, Mabel.” 

“ No, indeed, sir, I was not thinking of the army at all as 
you spoke of retiring. My thoughts were more egotistical, 
and I was thinking how much you reminded me of my dear 
father, by your experience, wisdom and suitableness, to take 
his place as the head of a family.” 

“ As its bridegroom, pretty Mabel, but not as its parent, 
or natural chief. I see how it is with you, loving your repartee, 
and brilliant with wit! Well, I like spirit in a young woman, so 
be it not the spirit of a scold. This Pathfinder is an extraor- 
dinair, Mabel, if truth may be said of the man.” 

‘‘Truth should be said of him, or nothing. Pathfinder is 
my friend — my very particular friend, Mr. Muir, and no evil 
can be said of him, in my presence, that I shall not deny.” 

“ I shall say nothing evil of him, I can assure you, Mabel, 
but, at the same time, I doubt if much good can be said in his 
favor.” 

“ He is at least expert with the rifle,” returned Mabel, smil 
ing. “ That you cannot deny.” 

“ Let him have all the credit of his exploits in that way, if 
you please ; but he is as illiterate as a Mohawk.” 

“ He may not understand Latin, but his knowledge of Iro- 
quois is greater than that of most men, and it is the more use- 
ful language of the tw^o, in this part of the world.” 

“If Lundie himself were to call on me for an opinion which 
I admired most, your person or your wit, beautiful and caustic 
Mabel, I should be at a loss to answer. My admiration is so 
nearly divided between them, that I often fancy this is the one 
that bears off the palm, and then the other I Ah ! the late Mrs. 
Muir was a paragon in that way, also.” 

“ The latest Mrs. Muir, did you say, sir ? ” asked Mabel, 
looking up innocently at her companion. 

“ Hoot — hoot 1 That is some of Pathfinder’s scandal. Now, 
I dare say that the fellow has been trying to persuade you, 
Mabel, that I have had more than one wife already.” 

“ In that case, his time would have been “‘firown away, siij 


266 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


as everybody knows that you have been so unfortunate as ta 
have had four.” 

“ Only three, as sure as my name is David Muir. The fourth 
is pure scandal — or rather, pretty Mabel, she is yet m petto., as 
they say at Rome ; and that means, in matters of love, in the 
heart, my dear.” 

“ Well, I’m glad I’m not that fourth person in petto., or any- 
thing else, as I should not like to be a scandal ! ” 

“ No fear of that, charming Mabel ; for, were you the 
fourth, all the others would be forgotten, and your wonderful 
beauty and merit would at once elevate you to the first. No 
fear of your being fourth in anything.” 

“ There is consolation in that assurance, Mr. Muir,” said 
Mabel, laughing, “whatever there may be in your other assu- 
rance : for I confess I should prefer being even a fourth-rate 
beauty to being a fourth wife.” 

So saying, she tripped away, leaving the quartermaster to 
meditate on his want of success. Mabel had been induced to 
use her female means of defense thus freely, partly because 
her suitor had of late been so pointed as to stand in need of a 
pretty strong repulse, and partly on account of his innuendoes 
against Jasper and the Pathfinder. Though full of spirit and 
quick of intellect, she was not naturally pert ; but, on the pres- 
ent occasion, she thought that circumstances called for more 
than usual decision. When she left her companion, therefore, 
she believed she was now finally released from attentions that 
she thought as ill bestowed as they were certainly disagreeable. 
Not so, however, with David Muir ; accustomed to rebuffs, and 
familiar with the virtue of perseverance, he saw no reason to 
despair, though the half menacing, half self-satisfied manner 
in which he shook his head toward the retreating girl, might 
have betrayed designs as sinister as they were determined. 
While he was thus occupied, the Pathfinder approached, and 
got within a few feet of him, unseen. 

“’Twill never do, quartermaster, ’twill never do!” com- 
menced the latter, laughing in his noiseless way ; “ she is 
young and active, and none but a quick foot can overtake her. 
They tell me you are her suitor, if you’re not her follower.” 

“ And I hear the same of yourself man, though the presump- 
tion would be so great that I scarce can think it true.” 

“ I fear you’re right, I do ; yes, I fear you’re right I — when 
I consider myself — what I am — how little I know, and how 
rude my life has been, I altogether distrust my claim, even 


THE PA THFINDER, 267 

to think a moment, of one so tutored, and gay, and light of 
heart, and delicate — 

‘‘ You forget handsome,” coarsely interrupted Muir. 

“ And handsome, too, I fear,” returned the meek and selh 
abased guide ; “ I might have said handsome, at once, among 
her other qualities, for the young fa’an just as it learns to 
bound, is not more pleasant to the eye of the hunter, than 
Mabel is lovely in mine. I do, indeed, fear that all the thoughts 
I have harbored about her are vain and presumptuous.” 

“ If you think this, my friend, of your own accord, and 
natural modesty, as it might be, my duty to you as an old fel- 
fow-campaigner compels me to say ” 

“ Quartermaster,” interrupted the other, regarding his com- 
panion keenly, “ you and I have lived together much behind 
the ramparts of forts, but very little in the open woods, or in 
front of the inimy,” 

“ Garrison or tent, it all passes for part of the same cam- 
paign, you know, Pathfinder; and then, my duty keeps me 
much within sight of the storehouses, greatly contrary to my 
inclinations, as ye may well suppose, having yourself the ardor 
of battle in your temperament. But had ye heard what Mabel 
has just been saying of you, ye’d no think another minute of 
making yourself agreeable to the saucy and uncompromising 
hussy.” 

Pathfinder looked earnestly at the lieutenant, for it was 
impossible he should not feel an interest in what might be 
Mabel’s opinion ; but he had too much of the innate and true 
feeling of a gentleman to ask to hear what another had said of 
him. Muir, however, w^as not to be foiled by this self-denial 
and self-respect ; for, believing he had a man of great truth 
and simplicity to deal with, he determined to practice on his 
credulity, as one means of getting rid of his rivalry. He there- 
fore pursued the subject as soon as he perceived that his com 
panion’s self-denial was stronger than his curiosity. 

“ You ought to know her opinion, Pathfinder,” he continued ; 
“ and I think every man ought to hear what his friends and 
acquaintances say of him ; and so, by way of proving my own 
regard for your character and feelings, I’ll just tell you, in as 
few words as possible. You know that Mabel has a wicked, 
malicious way with those eyes of her own, when she has a 
mind to be hard upon one's feelings.” 

“ To me her eyes, Lieutenant Muir, have always seemed 
winning and soft — though I will acknowledge that the 7 some 


THE PATHFINDER, 


268 

time laugh — yes, I have known them to laugh ; and that right 
heartily, and with downright good-will.” 

“ Well, it was just that, then ; her eyes were laughing with 
all their might, as it were, and, in the midst of all her fun, she 
broke out with an exclamation to this effect — I hope ’twill no 
hurt your sensibility. Pathfinder ? ” 

“ I will not say, quartermaster, I will not say — Mabel’s 
opinion of me is of more account than that of most others.” 

“Then I’ll no tell ye, but just keep discretion on the sul> 
ject ; and why should a man be telling another what his friends 
say of him, especially when they happen to say that which may 
not be pleasant to hear. I’ll not add another word to this pres- 
ent communication.” 

“ I cannot make you speak, quartermaster, if you are not 
so minded, and perhaps it is better for me not to know Mabel’s 
opinion, as you seem to think it is not to my favor. Ah’s me 
— if we could be what we wished to be, instead of being only 
what we are, there would be a great difference in our charac- 
ters, and knowledge, and appearance. One may be rude, and 
coarse, and ignorant, and yet happy, if he does not know it * 
but it is hard to see our own failings in the strongest light, just 
as we wish to hear the least about them.” 

“That’s just the rationale^ as the French say, of the matter; 
and so I was telling Mabel, when she ran away and left me. 
You noticed the manner in which she skipped off, as you ap- 
proached ? ” 

“ It was very observable,” answered Pathfinder, drawing a 
long breath, and clinching the barrel of his rifle, as if the 
fingers would bury themselves in the iron. 

“It was more than observable — it was flagrant — that’s just 
the word, and the dictionary wouldn’t supply a better, after an 
hour’s search. Well, you must know, Pathfinder, for I cannot 
reasonably deny you the gratification of hearing this — so you 
must know, the minx bounded off in that manner, in preference 
to hearing what I had to say in your justification.” 

“ And what could you find to say in my behalf, quarter 
master.” 

“Why, d’ye understand, my friend, I was ruled by circum- 
stances, and no ventured indiscreetly into generalities, but was 
preparing to meet particulars, as it might be, with particulars. 
If you were thought wild, half-savage, or of a frontier forma- 
tion, I could tell her, ye know, that it came of the frontier, 
wild, and half-savage life ye’d led ; and all her objections must 


cease at once, or there would be a sort of a misunderstanding 
with Providence.’^ 

“ And did you tell her this, quartermaster ? ” 

“ I’ll no swear to the exact words, but the idea was preval- 
ent in my mind, ye’ll understand. The girl was impatient, and 
would not hear the half I had to say ; but away she skipped, as 
ye saw with your own eyes. Pathfinder, as if her opinion were 
fully made up, and she cared to listen no longer. I fear her 
mind may be said to have come to its conclusion.” 

“ I fear it has, indeed, quartermaster, and her father, after 
all, is mistaken. Yes, yes ; the sergeant has fallen into a 
grievous error.” 

“ Well, man, why need ye lament, and undo all the grand 
reputation ye’ve been so many years making? Shoulder the 
rifle that ye use so well, and off into the woods with ye, for 
there’s not the female breathing that is worth the heavy heart 
for a minute, as I know from experience. Tak’ the word of 
one who knows the sex, and has had two wives, that women, 
after all, are very much the sort of creature we do not imagine 
them to be. Now, if you would really mortify Mabel, here is 
as glorious an occasion as any rejected lover could desire.” 

“ The last wish I have, lieutenant, would be to mortify 
Mabel.” 

“ Well, ye’ll come to that in the end, notwithstanding ; for 
it’s human nature to desire to give unpleasant feelings to them 
that gave unpleasant feelings to us. But a better occasion 
never offered, to make your friends love you than is to be had 
at this very moment, and that is the certain means of causing 
one’s enemies to envy us.” 

“ Quartermaster, Mabel is not my inimy ; and if she was, 
the last thing I could desire would be to give her an uneasy 
moment.” 

‘‘Ye say so, Pathfinder — ye say so, and I dare say ye think 
so ; but reason and nature are both against you, as ye’ll find 
in the end. Ye’ve heard the saying of ‘ love me, love my dog 
well, now. that means, read backward, ‘ don’t love me, don’t 
love my dog.” Now, listen to what is in your power to do. 
You know we occupy an exceedingly precarious and uncertain 
position here, almost in the jaws of the lion as it were ? ” 

“ Do you mean the Frenchers, by the lion, and this island 
as his jaws, lieutenant ? 

Metaphorically only, my friend, for the French are no 
lions, and this island is no jaw — unless, indeed, it may prove 


THE PATHFINDER, 


270 

to be, what I greatly fear may come true, the jawbone of an 
ass ! ” > 

Here the quartermaster indulged in a sneering laugh that 
I>:oclaimed anything but respect and s/jmiration for his friend 
Lundie’s sagacity in selecting that particular spot for his opera- 
tions. 

“ That post is as well chosen as any I ever put foot in,” 
said Pathfinder, looking around him ats one surveys a picture. 

I’ll no deny it — I’ll no deny it. Lundie is a great soldier 
in a small way ; and his father was a great laird, with the same 
qualification. I was born on the estate, and have followed the 
Major so long, that I’ve got to reverence all he says and does. 
That’s just my weakness, ye’ll know. Pathfinder. Well, this 
post may be the post of an ass, or of a Solomon, as men fancy ; 
but it’s most critically placed, as is apparent by all Lundie’s 
precautions and injunctions. There are savages out, scouting 
through these thousand islands, and over the forest, searching 
for this very spot, as is known to Lundie himself, on certain 
information ; and, the greatest service you can render the 55th, 
is to discover their trails, and lead them off on a false scent. 
Unhappily, Sergeant Dunham has taken up the notion, that the 
danger is to be apprehended from up-stream, because Frontenac 
lies above us ; whereas, all experience tells us, that Indians 
come on the side that is most contrary to reason, and, con- 
sequently, are to be expected from below. Take your canoe, 
therefore, and go down stream, among the islands, that we may 
have notice if any danger approaches from that quarter. If 
you should look a few miles on the main, especially on the York 
side, the information you’d bring in would be all the raore 
accurate, and, consequently, the more valuable.” 

“ The Big Sarpent is on the look-out in that quarter, and, 
as he knows the station well, no doubt he will give us timely 
notice, should any wish to sarcumvent us in that direction.” 

“ He is but an Indian, after all. Pathfinder, and this is an 
affair that calls for the knowledge of a white man. Lundie 
will be eternally grateful to the man that shall help this little 
enterprise to come off with flying colors. To tell you the truth, 
my friend, he is conscious it should never have been attempted; 
but he has too much of the old laird’s obstinacy about him to 
own an error, though it be as manifest as the morning star.” 

The quartermaster then continued' to reason with his com- 
panion, in order to induce him to quit the island without delav, 
using such arguments as first suggested themselves, sometime? 
contradicting himself, and not unfrequently urging, at one mri 


THE PATHFINDER. 


2yi 

ment, a motive that at the next was directly opposed by another. 
The Pathfinder, simple as he was, detected these flaws in the 
lieutenant’s philosophy, though he was far from suspecting that 
they proceeded from a desire to clear the coast of Mabel’s 
suitor. He met bad reasons by good ones, resisted every 
inducement that was not legitimate, by his intimate acquaint- 
ance with his peculiar duties, and was blind, as usual, to the in- 
fluence of every incentive that could not stand the test of integ- 
rity. He did not exactly suspect the secret objects of Muir, 
but he was far from being blind to his sophistry. The result 
was that the two parted, after a long dialogue, unconvinced 
and distrustful of each other’s motives, though the distrust of 
the guide, like all that was connected with the man, partook of 
his own upright, disinterested, and ingenuous nature. 

A conference that took place, soon after, between Sergeant 
Dunham and the lieutenant, led to more consequences. When 
it waB ended, secret orders were issued to the men, the block- 
house was taken possession of, the huts were occupied, and one 
accustomed to the movements of soldiers might have detected 
that an expedition was in the wind. In fact, as just the sun was 
setting, the sergeant, who had been much occupied at what was 
called the Harbor, came into his own hut, followed by Path- 
finder and Cap, and, as he took his seat at the neat table that 
Mabel had prepared for him, he opened the budget of his in- 
telligence. 

“ You are likely to be of some use here, my child,” the old 
soldier commenced, “ as this tidy and well-ordered supper 
can testify ; and I trust, when the proper moment arrives, you 
will show yourself to be the descendant of those who know how 
to face their enemies.” 

“ You do not expect me, dear father, to play Joan of Arc, 
and to lead the men to battle ? ” 

“ Play whom, child — did you ever hear of the person Mabel 
mentions. Pathfinder ? ” 

“ Not I, sergeant ; but what of that } I am ignorant and 
onedicated, and it is too great a pleasure to me to listen to her 
voice, and take in her words, to be particular about persons.” 

“ I know her,” said Cap, decidedly ; “ she sailed a privateer 
out of Morlaix in the last war ; and good cruises she made of 
them.” 

Mabel blushed at having inadvertently made an allusion that 
went beyond her father’s reading, to say nothing of her uncle’s 
dogmatism •, and, perhaps, a little at the Pathfinder’s simple 


THE PA THFINDER. 


272 

ingenuous earnestness ; but she did not forbear the less td 
smile. 

Why, father, I am not expected to fall in with the men and 
to help defend the island ? ” 

“ And ■ yet women often have done such things, in this 
quarter of the world, girl, as our friend, the Pathfinder, here, 
will tell you. But, lest you should be surprised at not seeing 
us when you awake in the morning, it is proper that I now tell 
you we intend to march in the course of this very night.” 

“ We^ father — and leave me and Jennie on this island 
alone ? ” 

No, my daughter, not quite as unmilitary as that. We 
shall leave Lieutenant Muir, brother Cap, Corporal McNab 
and three men to compose the garrison during our absence. 
Jennie will remain with you in this hut, and brother Cap will 
occupy my place.” 

“ And Mr. Muir ? ” said Mabel, half unconscious of what she 
uttered, though she foresaw a great deal of unpleasant persecu- 
tion in the arrangement. 

“ Why, he can make love to you, if you like it, girl ; for he 
is an amorous youth, and, having already disposed of four 
wives, is impatient to show how much he honors their memories 
by taking a fifth.” 

“ The quartermaster tells me,” said Pathfinder, innocently, 
“ that when a man’s feelings have been harrowed by so many 
losses, there is no wiser way to soothe them than by ploughing 
up the soil anew in such a manner as to leave no traces of what 
have gone over it before.” 

“Ay, that is just the difference between ploughing and 
harrowing,” returned the sergeant, vith a grim smile. “ But 
let him tell Mabel his mind, and there will be an end of his suit. 
I very well know that my daughter will never be the wife of 
Lieutenant Muir.” 

This was said in a way that was tantamount to declaring 
that no daughter of his ever should become the wife of the per- 
son in question. Mabel had colored, trembled, half laughed, 
and looked uneasy ; but, rallying her spirit, she said in a voice 
so cheerful as completely to conceal her agitation : 

“But, father, we might better wait until Mr. Muir manifests 
a wish that your daughter should have him, or rather a wish to 
have your daughter, lest we get the fable of sour grapes thrown 
into our faces.” 

“ And what is that fable, Mabel ?” eagerly demanded Path- 
finder, who was anything but learned in the ordinary lore of white 


THE PATHFINDER. 


273 


men — ** tell it to us in your own pretty way ; I dare say the ser* 
geant never heard it.” 

Mabel repeated the well-known fable, and, as her suitor had 
desired, in her own pretty way, which was a way to keep his 
eyes rivetted on her face, and the whole of his honest counte< 
nance covered with a smile. 

“ That was like a fox ! ” cried Pathfinder, when she had 
ceased, “ ay, and like a Mingo, too, cunning and cruel ; that is 
the way with both the riptyles. As to grapes, they are sour 
enough in this part of the country, even to them that can get 
at them, though I dare say there are seasons, and times, and 
places, where they are sourer to them that can’t. I should 
judge, now, my scalp is very sour in Mingo eyes.” 

“ The sour grapes will be the other way, child, and it is Mr. 
Muir who will make the complaint. — You would never marry 
that man, Mabel ? ” 

“ Not she,” put in Cap ; “ a fellow who is only half a sol- 
dier, after all. The story of them there grapes is quite a cir- 
cumstance.” 

I think little of marrying any one, dear father, and dear 
uncle, and would rather talk about it less, if you please. But 
did I think of marrying at all, I do believe a man whose affec- 
tions have already been tried by three or four wives would 
scarcely be my choice.” 

The sergeant nodded at the guide, as much as to say, you 
see how the land lies ; and then he had sufficient consideration 
for his daughter’s feelings to change the subject. 

“ Neither you nor Mabel, brother Cap,” he resumed, “ can 
have any legal authority with the garrison I leave behind on the 
island ; but you may counsel and influence. Strictly speaking, 
Corporal McNab will be tne commanding officer, and I have 
endeavored to impress him with a sense of his dignity, lest he 
might give way too much to the superior rank of Lieutenant 
Muir, who, being a volunteer, can have no right to interfere 
with the duty. I wish you to sustain the corporal, brother Cap, 
for should the quartermaster once break through the regulations 
of the expedition, he may pretend to command me as well as 
McNab.” 

“More particularly should Mabel really cut him adrift 
while you are absent. Of course, sergeant, you’ll leave every- 
thing that is afloat under my care } The most d — le confusion 
has grown out of misunderstandings between commanders-im 
chief ashore and afloat.” 

“In one sense, brother, though in a general way. the cor 


THE PATHFINDER. 


^74 

poral is commander-in-chief. History does, indeed, tell us that 
a division of command leads to difficulties, and I shall avoid 
that danger. The corporal must command, but you can coun- 
sel freely, particularly in all matters relating to the boats, of 
which I shall leave one behind, to secure your retreat should 
there be occasion. I know the corporal well ; he is a brave 
man, and a good soldier ; and one that may be relied on, if the 
Santa Cruz can be kept from him. But then he is a Scotch- 
man, and will be liable to the quartermaster’s influence, against 
which I desire both you and Mabel to be on your guard.” 

“ But why leave us behind, dear father ? I have come thus 
far to be a comfort to you, and why not go farther ? ” 

“ You are a good girl, Mabel, and very like the Dunhams ! 
But you must halt here. We shall leave the island to-morrow 
before the day dawns, in order not to be seen by any prying eyes 
coming from our cover, and we shall take the two largest boats, 
leaving you the other and one bark canoe. We are about to go 
into the channel used by the French, where we shall lie 
in wait, perhaps a week, to intercept their supply-boats that are 
about to pass up, on their way to Fronlenac, loaded in partic- 
ular with a heavy amount of Indian goods.” 

“Have you looked well to your papers, brother?” Cap 
anxiously demanded. “ Of course you know a capture on the 
high seas is piracy, unless your boat is regularly commissioned 
either as a public or a private armed cruiser.” 

“ I have the honor to hold the colonel’s appointment as ser- 
geant-major of the 55th,” returned the other, drawing himself 
up with dignity, “ and that will be sufficient even for the French 
King. If not, I have Major Duncan’s written orders.” 

“ No papers them for a warlike cruiser.” 

“ They must suffice, brother, as I have no other. It is of 
vast importance to his majesty’s interests in this part of the 
world that the boats in question should be captured and carried 
into Oswego. They contain the blankets, trinkets, rifles, am- 
munition — in short, all the stores with which the French bribe 
their accursed savage allies to commit their unholy acts, setting 
at naught our holy religion and its precepts, the laws of human- 
ity, and all that is sacred and dear among men. By cutting off 
these supplies we shall derange their plans, and gain time on 
them ; for the articles cannot be sent across the ocean again 
this autumn.” 

“ But, father, does not his majesty employ Indians also ? 
asked Mabel, with some curiosity. 

“ Certainly, girl, and he has a right to employ them — God 


THE PA THFINDER. 


275 

bless him ! It’s a very different thing whether an Englishman 
or a Frenchman emplpys a savage, as everybody can under- 
stand.” 

That is plain enough, Brother Dunham ; but I do not see 
my way so clear in the matter of the ship’s papers.” 

“ An English colonel’s appointment ought to satisfy any 
Frenchman of my authority ; and what is more, brother, ii 
shall.” 

“ But I do not see the difference, father, between an Eng* 
glishman and a Frenchman’s employing savages in war.^^ ” 

“ All the odds in the world, child, though you may not be 
able to see it. In the first place, an Englishman is naturally 
humane and considerate, while a Frenchman is naturelfy fero- 
cious and timid.” 

“ And you may add, brother, that he will dance from morn- 
ing till night, if you’ll let him.” 

‘•Very true,” gravely returned the sergeant. 

“ But, father, I cannot see that all this alters the case. If 
it be wrong in a Frenchman to hire savages to fight his enemies, 
it w'ould. seem to be equally wrong in an Englishman. You 
will admit this. Pathfinder ? ” 

“ It’s reasonable — it’s reasonable, and I have never been 
cne of them that has raised a cry ag’in the Frenchers for doing 
the very thing we do ourselves. Still, it is worse to consort with 
a Mingo than to consort with a Delaware. If any of that just 
tribe were left, I should think it no sin to send them out ag’in 
the foe.” 

“ And yet they scalp and slay young and old — women and 
children ! ” 

“ They have their gifts, Mabel, and are not to be blamed 
for following them. Natur is Natur’, though the different 
tribes have different ways of showing it. For my part, I am 
white, and endeavor to maintain white feelings.” 

“ This is all unintelligible to me,” answered Mabel. “ What 
is right in King George, it would seem, ought to be right in 
King Louis.” 

“ The King of France’s real name is Caput,” observed Cap, 
with his mouth full of vension. “I once carried a great scholai 
as a passenger, and he told me that these Lewises thirteenth, 
fourteenth, and fifteenth, were all humbugs, and that the men's 
real name was Caput ; which is French for ‘head ’ ; meaning that 
they ought to be put at the foot of the ladder, until ready to go up 
to be hanged.” 

“ Well, this does look like being given to scalping, as a 


THE PATHFINDER. 


^76 

nat’ral gift,” Pathfinder remarked, with the air of surprise with 
which one receives a novel idea, “ and I shall have less com* 
punction than ever in serving ag’in the miscreants, though I 
can’t say I ever yet felt any worth naming.” 

As all parties, Mabel excepted, seemed satisfied with the 
course the discussion had taken, no one appeared to think it 
necessary to pursue the subject. The trio of men, indeed, in 
this particular, so much resembled the great mass of their fel- 
low-creatures, who usually judge of character equally without 
knowledge and without justice, that we might not have thought 
it neccessary to record the discourse, had it not some bearing 
in its facts on the incidents of the legend, and in its opinions 
on the motives of the characters. 

Supper was no sooner ended than the sergeant dismissed his 
guests, and then held a long and confidential dialogue with his 
daughter. He was little addicted to giving way to the gentler 
emotions, but the novelty of his present situation awakened 
feelings that he was unused to experience. The soldier, or 
the sailor, so long as he acts under the immediate supervision 
of a superior, thinks little of the risks he runs ; but the moment 
he feels the responsibility of command, all the hazards of his 
undertaking begin to associate themselves in his mind with the 
chances of success or failure. While he dwells less on his own 
personal danger, perhaps, than when that is the principal con- 
sideration, he has more lively general perceptions of all the 
risks, and submits more to the influence of the feelings which 
doubt creats: Such was now the case with Sergeant Dunham, 
who, instead of looking forward to victory as certain according 
to his usual habits, began to feel the possibility that he might 
be parting with his child forever. 

Never before had Mabel struck him as so beautiful as she 
appeared that night. Possibly she never had displayed so 
many engaging qualities to her father ; for concern on his 
account had begun to be active in her breast, and then her 
sympathies met with unusual encouragement through those 
which had been stirred up in the sterner bosom of the veteran. 
She had never been entirely at her ease with her parent, the 
great superiority of her education creating a sort of chasm, 
which had been widened by the military severity of manner 
he had acquired by dealing so long and intimately with beings 
who could only be kept in subjection by an unremitted dis 
cipline. On the present occasion, however, or after they were 
left alone, the conversation between the father and daughter 
became more confidential than usual, until Mabel rejoiced t« 


THE PATHFINDER, 


277 

find that it was gradually becoming endearing — a state of feel- 
ing tnat the warm-hearted girl had silently pined for in vain 
ever since her arrival. 

“ Then mother was about my height ? ” Mabel said, as she 
held one of her father’s hands in both her own, looking up into 
his face with humid eyes. “ I had thought her taller.” 

“ This is the way with most children, who get a habit of 
thinking of their parents with respect, until they fancy them 
larger and more commanding than they actually are. Your 
mother, Mabel, was as near your height as one woman could 
be to another.” 

“ And her eyes, father ? ” 

“ Her eyes were like thine, child, too — blue and soft, and 
inviting like ; though hardly so laughing.” 

“ Mine will never laugh again, dearest father, if you do not 
take care of yourself in this expedition.” 

“Thank you, Mabel — hem — thank )ou, child; but I must 
do my duty. I wish I had seen you comfortably married before 
we left Oswego ! — my mind would be easier.” 

“ Married ! — to whom, father ? ” 

“ You know the man I wish you to love. You may meet 
with many gayer, and many dressed in finer clothes ; but with 
none with so true a heart and just a mind.” 

“ None, father ? ” 

“ I know of none ; in these particulars Pathfinder has few 
equals, at least.” 

“But I need not marry at all. You are single, and I can 
remain to take care of you.” 

“ God bless you, Mabel ! — I know you would, and I do not 
say that the feeling is not right, for I suppose it is ; and yet I 
believe there is another that is more so.” 

“ What can be more right than to honor one’s parents ?” 

It is just as right to honor one’s husband, my dear child.” 

“ But I have no husband, father.” 

“ Then take one as soon as possible, that you may have a 
husband to honor, I cannot live forever, Mabel, but must drop 
off in the course of nature ere long, if I am not carried off in 
the course of war. You are young, and may yet live long; and 
it is proper that you should have a male protector, who can 
see you safe through life, and take care of you in age as you 
now wish to take care of me.” 

“ And do you think, father—” said Mabel, playing with his 
sinewy fingers with her own little hands, and looking down at 
them as if they were subjects of intense interest, though her 


THE PA THFINDER, 


nz 

ips curled in a slight smile as the words came from them^ 

‘ and do you think, father, that Pathfinder is just the man to do 
ills ? Is he not within ten or twelve years as old as yourself ? ” 

“ What of that ? His life has been one of moderation and 
fcxercise, and years are less to be counted, girl, than consti- 
tution. Do you know another more likely to be your pro 
lector 1 ” 

Mabel did not ; at least another who had expressed a 
desire to that effect, whatever might have been her hopes and 
her wishes. 

“ Nay, father, we are not talking of another, but of the 
Pathfinder,” she answered, evasively. “ If he were younger, I 
think it would be more natural for me to think of him for a 
husband.” 

“ ’Tis all in the constitution, I tell you, child. Pathfinder 
is a younger man than half our subalterns.” 

“ He is certainly younger than one, sir — Lieutenant Muir.” 

Mabel’s laugh was joyous and light-hearted, as if just then 
she felt no care. 

“ That he is — young enough to be his grandson — he is 
younger in years, too. God forbid, Mabel! that you should 
ever become an officer’s lady, at least until you are an officer’s 
daughter.” 

“There will be little fear of that, father, if I marry Path-, 
finder ! ” returned the girl, looking up archly in the sergeant’s 
face again. 

“ Not by the king’s commission, perhaps, though the man 
is even now the friend and companion of generals. I think I 
could die happy, Mabel, if you were his wife.” 

“ Father I ” 

“ ’Tis a sad thing to go into battle with the weight of an un- 
protected daughter laid upon the heart.” 

“ I would give the world to lighten yours of its load, my 
dear sir ! ” 

“ It might be done,” said the sergeant, looking fondly at 
his child, “ though I could not wish to put a burden on yours 
in order to do so.” 

The voice was deep and tremulous, and never before had 
Mabel witnessed such a show of affection in her parent. The 
habitual sternness of the man lent an interest to his emotions 
that they might otherwise have wanted, and the daughtei’s 
heart yearned to relieve the father’s mind. 

“ Father, speak plainly,” she cried, almost convulsiveU% 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


m 

** Nay, Mabel, it might not be right — ^your wishes and mine 
may be very different.” 

“I have no wishes — know nothing of what you mean — 
would you speak of my future marriage ? ” 

“ If I could see you promised to Pathfinder — know that you 
were pledged to become his wife, let my own fate be what it 
might, I think I could die happy. But I will ask no pledge of 
you, my child — I will not force you to do what you might 
repent. Kiss me, Mabel, and go to your bed. 

Had Sergeant Dunham exacted of Mabel the pledge that 
he really so much desired, he would have encountered a 
resistance that he might have found difficult to overcome ; bu* 
by letting Nature have its course, he enlisted a powerful all) 
on his side, and the warm-hearted, generous-minded Mabel 
was ready to concede to her affections much more than she 
would ever have yielded to menace. At that touching moment 
she thought only of lier parent, who was about to quit her, per- 
haps forever ; and all of that ardent love for him which had 
possibly been as much fed by the imagination as by anything 
else, but which had received a little check by the restrained 
intercourse of the last fortnight, now returned with a force that 
was increased by pure and intense feeling. Her father seemed 
all in all to her ; and, to render him happy, there was no 
proper sacrifice that she was not ready to make. One painful, 
rapid, almost wild gleam of thought shot across the brain of 
the girl, and her resolution wavered ; but, endeavoring to trace 
the foundation of the pleasing hope on which it was based, she 
found nothing positive to support it. Trained like a woman, 
to subdue her most ardent feelings, her thoughts reverted to 
her father, and to the blessings that awaited the child who 
yielded to a parent’s wishes. 

“ Father,” she said, quietly, almost with a holy calm, “ God 
blesses the dutiful daughter ! ” 

“ He will, Mabel ; we have the good book for that.” 

“ I will marry whomsoever you desire.” 

“ Nay — nay, Mabel — you may have a choice of your own 
>> 

“ I have no choice — that is, none have asked me to have a 
choice but Pathfinder and Mr. Muir; and, between f/iem neither 
of us would hesitate. No, father ; I will marry whomsoever 
you may choose.” 

“ Thou knowest my choice, beloved girl ; none other can 
make thee as happy as the noble hearted guide.” 

“ Well, then, if he wish it — if he ask me again — ^for, father 


28 o 


THE PATHFINDER. 


you would not have me offer myself, or that any one should dd 
that office for me ” — and the blood stole acioss the pallid 
cheeks of Mabel as she spoke, for high and generous resolution 
had driven back the stream of life to her heart — “ no one must 
speak to him of it; but if he seeks me again, and, knowing all 
that a true girl ought to tell the man she marries, and he then 
wishes to make me his wife, I will be his.” 

“ Bless you, my Mabel — God in heaven bless you, and 
reward you as a pious daughter deserves to be rewarded ! ” 
“Yes, father — put your mind at peace — go on this expedition 
with a light heart, and trust in God. For me you will have, 
now, no care. In the spring — I must have a little time, father 
— but, in the spring, I will marry Pathfinder, if that noble- 
hearted hunter shall then desire it.” 

“ Mabel, he loves you as I loved your mother. I have seen 
him weep like a child when speaking of his feelings toward 
you.” 

“ Yes, I believe it — I’ve seen enough to satisfy me that he 
thinks better of me than I deserve ; and cortainly the man is 
not living for whom I have more respect than for Pathfinder ; 
not even for you, dear father.” 

“ That is as it should be, child, and the union will be 
blessed. May I not tell Pathfinder this ? ” 

“ I would rather you would not, father. Let it come of it- 
self — come naturally — the man should seek the woman, and 

not the woman the man ” The smile that illuminated 

Mabel’s handsome face was angelic, as even her parent thought, 
though one better practised in detecting the passing emotions, 
as they betray themselves in the countenance, might have 
traced something wild and unnatural in it. “ NO' — no — we 
must let things take their course ; father, you have my solemn 
promise.” 

“ That will do — that will do, Mabel ; now kiss me — God 
bless and protect you, girl — you are a good daughter! ” 

Mabel threw herself into her father’s arms — it was the first 
time in her life — and sobbed on his bosom like an infant. The 
stern old soldier’s heart was melted, and the tears of the two 
mingled ; but Sergeant Dunham soon started, as if ashamed cf 
himself, and gently forcing his daughter from him, he bade her 
good night, and sought his pallet. Mabel went sobbing to the 
rude corner that had been prepared for her reception, and in a 
few minutes the hut was undisturbed by any sound, save the 
heavy breathing of the veteran. 


THE PATHFINDER, 


281 


CHAPTER XX. 

** Wandering, I found on my ruinous walk, 

By the dial stone, aged and green, 

One rose of the wilderness left on its stalk. 

To mark where a garden had been.” 

— Campbell. 

It was not only broad daylight when Mabel awoke, but th^ 
sun had actually been up some time. Her sleep had been tran 
quil, for she rested on an approving conscience, and fatigue con- 
tributed to render it sweet, and no sound of those who had been 
so early in motion had interfered with her rest. Springing to 
her feet, and rapidly dressing herself, the girl was soon breath- 
ing the fragrance of the morning in the open air. For the first 
time she was sensibly struck with the singular beauties as well as 
with the profound retirement of her present situation. The day 
proved to be one of those of the autumnal glory so common to 
a climate that is more abused than appreciated, and its influence 
was in every way inspiriting and genial. Mabel was benefited 
by this circumstance, for, as she fancied, her heart was heavy 
on account of the dangers to which a father, whom she now 
began to love, as women love when confidence is created, was 
about to be exposed. 

But the island seemed absolutely deserted. The previous 
night, the bustle of the arrival had given the spot an appearance 
of life that was now entirely gone ; and our heroine had turned 
her eyes nearly around on every object in sight, before she 
caught a view of a single human being to remove the sense of 
utter solitude. Then, indeed, she beheld all who were left be- 
hind, collected in a group, around a fire which might be said to 
belong to the camp. The person of her uncle, to whom she was 
so much accustomed, reassured the girl, and she examined the 
remainder with a curiosity natural to her situation. Besides 
Cap and the quartermaster, there were the corporal, the three 
soldiers, and the woman who was cooking. The huts were 
silent and empty, and the low, but tower-like summit of the 
block-house rose above the bushes, by which it was half-con- 
cealed, in picturesque beauty. The sun was just casting its 
brightness into the open places of the glade, and the vault, ovei 
her head, was impending in the soft sublimity of the blue void 
Not a cloud was visible, and she secretly fancied the circumf 
stance might be taken as a harbinger of peace and security. 


282 


THE PA THFINDER. 


Perceiving that all the others were occupied with that great 
concern of human nature, a breakfast, Mabel walked unob- 
served toward an end of the island, where she was completely 
shut out of view by the trees and busheso Here she got a 
stand on the very edge of the water, by forcing aside the low 
branches, and stood watching the barely perceptible flow and 
re-flow of the minature waves that laved the shore ; a sort of 
physical echo to the agitation that prevailed on the lake fifty 
miles above her. The glimpses of natural scenery that offered 
were very soft and pleasing ; and our heroine, who had a quick 
and true eye for all that was lovely in nature, was not slow in 
selecting the most striking bits of landscape. She gazed through 
the different vistas formed by the openings between the islands, 
and thought she had never looked on aught more lovely. 

While thus occupied, Mabel was suddenly alarmed by fancy- 
ing that she caught a glimpse of a human form, among the 
bushes that lined the shore of the island that lay directly before 
her. The distance across the water was not a hundred yards ; 
and though she might be mistaken, and her fancy was wander- 
ing when the form passed before her sight, still she did not 
think she could be deceived. Aware that her sex would be no 
protection against a rifle-bullet, should an Iroquois get a view 
of her, the girl instinctively drew back, taking care to conceal 
her person as much as possible by the leaves, while she kept 
her own look riveted on the opposite shore, vainly waiting for 
some time in the expectation of the stranger. She was about 
to quit her post in the bushes, and hasten to her uncle in order 
to acquaint him of her suspicions, when she saw the branch of an 
alder thrust beyond the bushes, on the other island, and waved 
toward her significantly, and, as she fancied, in token of amity. 
This was a breathless and trying moment to one as inexperi- 
enced in frontier warfare as our heroine, and yet she felt the 
great necessity that existed for preserving her recollection, and 
of acting with steadiness and discretion. 

It was one of the peculiarities of the exposure to which 
tnose who dwelt on the frontiers of America were liable, to 
bring out the moral qualities of the women to a degree that 
they must themselves, under other circumstances, have believed 
they were incapable of manifesting ; and Mabel well knew that 
the borderers loved to dwell, in their legends, on the presence 
of mind, fortitude, and spirit that their wives and sisters had 
displayed under circumstances the most trying. Her emulation 
had been awakened by what she had heard on such subjects , 
and it at once struck her that now was the moment for hei to 


THE PATHFINDER, 


283 

show that she was truly Sergeant Dunham’s child. The motion 
of the branch was such as, she believed, indicated amity ; and, 
after a moment’s hesitation, she broke off a twig, fastened it to 
a stick, and, thrusting it through an opening, waved it in return, 
imitating, as closely as possible, the manner of the other. 

This dumb show lasted two or three minutes on both sides, 
when Mabel perceived that the bushes opposite were cautiously 
pushed aside, and a human face appeared at an opening. A 
glance sufficed to let Mabel see that it was the countenance of 
a redskin, as well as that of a woman. A second and a bettei 
look satisfied her that it was the face of the Dew-of-June, the 
wife of Arrowhead. During the time she had travelled in com- 
pany with this woman, Mabel had been won by the gentleness 
of manner, the meek simplicity, and the mingled awe and affec- 
t'on with which she regarded her husband. Once or twice, in 
tne course of the journey, she fancied the Tuscarora had mani- 
fested toward herself an unpleasant degree of attention ; and 
on those occasions, it had struck her, that his wife exhibited sor- 
row and mortification. As Mabel, however, had more than 
compensated by any pain she might, in this way, unintentionally 
have caused her companion, by her own kindness of manner 
and attentions, the woman had shown much attachment to her, 
and they had parted, with a deep conviction on the mind of our 
heroine that in the Dew-of-June she had lost a friend. 

It is useless to attempt to analyze all the ways by which 
the human heart is led into confidence. Such a feeling, how- 
ever, had the young Tuscarora woman awakened in the breast 
of our heroine ; and the latter, under the impression that this ex- 
traordinary visit was intended for her own good, felt every dis- 
position to have a closer communication. She no longer hesi- 
tated about siiowing herself clear of the bushes, and was not 
sorry to see the Dew-of-June imitate her confidence by stepping 
fearlessly out of her own cover. The two girls, for the Tus- 
carora, though married, was even younger than Mabel, now 
openly exchanged signs of friendship, and the latter beckc ned 
to her friend to approach, though she knew not the mannei her- 
self in which this could be effected. But the Dew-of-June was 
not slow in letting it be seen that it was in her power ; for dis- 
appearing a moment, she soon showed herself again in the end 
of a bark canoe, the bow of which she had drawn to the edge of 
the bushes, and of which the body still lay in a sort of covered 
creek. Mabel was about to invite her to cross, when her own 
name was called aloud in the stentorian voice of her uncle. 
Making a hurried gesture for the Tuscarora girl to conceal her- 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


284 

self, Mabel sprang from the bushes and tripped up the glada 
toward the sound, and perceived that the whole party had just 
seated themselves at breakfast ; Cap having barely put his ap- 
petite under sufficient restraint to summon her to join them. 
That this was the most favorable instant for the interview 
flashed on the mind of Mabel ; and, excusing herself on the 
plea of not being prepared for the meal, she bounded back to 
the thicket, and soon renewed her communications with the 
young Indian woman. 

Dew-of-June was quick of comprehension ; and, with half a 
dozen noiseless strokes of the paddles, her canoe was concealed 
in the bushes of Station Island. In another minute Mabel 
held her hand, and was leading her through the grove toward 
her own hut. Fortunately, the latter was so placed as to be 
completely hidden from the sight of those at the fire, and they 
both entered it unseen. Hastily explaining to her guest, in 
the best manner she could, the necessity of quitting her for a 
short time, Mabel, first placing the Dew-of-June in her own 
room with the full certainty that she would not quit it until 
told to do so, went to the fire and took her seat among the rest 
with all the composure it was in her power to command. 

“ Late come, late served, Mabel,’’ said her uncle, between 
two mouthfuls of broiled salmon, for, though the cookery might 
be very unsophisticated on that remote frontier, the viands 
were generally delicious ; “ late come, late served ; it is a good 
rule, and keeps laggards up to their work.” 

“ I am no laggard, uncle, for I have been stirring near an 
hour, and exploring our island.” 

“ It’s little you’ll make o’ that. Mistress Mabel,” put in 
Muir, “ that’s little by nature. Lundie, or it might be better 
to style him Major Duncan in this presence ” — this was said in 
consideration of the corporal and the common men, though 
they were taking their meal a little apart — “ it might be better 
to style him Major Duncan in this presence, has not added an 
empire to his majesty’s dominions in getting possession of thif 
island, which is likely to equal that of the celebrated Sancho 
in revenues and profits — Sancho of whom, doubtless. Master 
Cap, you’ll often have been reading in your leisure hours, more 
especially in calms, and moments of inactivity.” 

“ I know the spot you mean, quartermaster ; Sancho’s 
Island — coral rock, of new formation, and as bad a landfall, in 
a dark night and blowing weather, as a sinner could wish to 
keep clear of. It’s a famous place for cocoa-nuts and bittei 
water, that Sancho’s Island 1 ” 


THE PA THFINDER. 


2S5 

** It’s no very famous for dinners,” returned Muir, repres- 
sing the smile that was struggling to his lips, out of respect to 
Mabel, “ nor do I think there’ll be much to choose between its 
revenge and that of this spot. In my judgment, Master Cap, 
this is a very unmilitary position, and I look to some calamity’s 
befalling it sooner or later.” 

“ It is to be hoped until our turn of duty is over,” observed 
Mabel. “ I have no wish to study the French language.” 

“We might think ouiselves happy did it not prove to be 
the Iroquois. I have reasoned with Major Duncan on the o& 
cupation of this position, but ‘ a wilfu’ man maun ha’ his way.’ 
My first object, in accompanying this party, was to endeavor to 
make myself acceptable and useful to your beautiful niece. 
Master Cap ; and the second was to take such an account of 
the stores that belong to my particular department, as shall 
leave no question open to controversy concerning the manner 
of expenditure, when they shall have disappeared by means of 
the enemy.” 

“ Do you look upon matters as so serious ? ” demanded Cap, 
actually suspending his mastication of a bit of venison, for he 
passed alternately, like a modern ekgant, from fish to flesh and 
again, in the interest he took in the answer. “ Is the danger 
pressing } ” 

“ I’ll no say just that ; and I’ll no say just the contrary. 
There is always danger in war, and there is more of it at the 
advanced posts than at the main encampment. It ought, there- 
fpre, to occasion no surprise were we to be visited by the 
French at any moment.” 

“ And what the devil is to be done in that case ? Six men 
and two women would make but a poor job in defending such 
a place as this, should the enemy invade us, as no doubt, 
Frenchman-like, they would take very good care to come 
strong-handed.” 

“ That we may depend on. Some very formidable force, at 
the very lowest. A military disposition might be made, in 
defence of the island, out of all question, and according to the 
art of war, though we would probably fail in the force necessary 
to carry out the design in any very creditable manner. In the 
first place, a detachment should be sent off to the shore with 
orders to annoy the enemy in landing. A strong party ought 
instantly to be thrown into the block-house, as the citadel, fot 
on that all the different detachments would naturally fall back for 
support, as the French advanced; and an entrenched camp 
might be laid out around the stronghold, as it would be very un 


286 


THE PATHFINDER. 


military, indeed, to let the foe get near enough to the foot of the 
walls to mine them. Chevaux-de-frise would keep the cavalry 
in check, and as for the artillery, redoubts should be thrown up 
under cover of yon woods. Strong skirmishing parties, more- 
ever, would be exceedingly serviceable in retarding the march 
of the enemy ; and these different huts, if properly picketed 
and ditched, would be converted into very eligible positions 
for that object.” 

“ Whe-e-w ! Quartermaster ! And who the d 1 is to 

find all the men to carry out such a plan ” 

“ The king, out of all question. Master Cap, It is his 
quarrel, and it’s just he should bear the burden o’ it.” 

“ And we are only six ! This is fine talking, with a ven- 
geance. You could be sent down to the shore to oppose the 
landing, Mabel might skirmish with her tongue at least, the 
soldier’s wife might act chevaux-de-frise, to entangle the cav- 
alry, the corporal should command the entrenched camp, his 
three men could occupy the five huts, and I would take the 
block-house. Whe-e-e-w, you describe well. Lieutenant, and 
you should have been a limner instead of a soldier ! ” 

“ Na — I’ve been very literal and upright in my exposition 
of matters. That there is no greater force here to carry out 
the plan, is a fault of his majesty’s ministers, and none ol 
mine.” 

“ But should our enemy really appear,” asked Mabel, with 
more interest than she might have shown had she not remem- 
bered the guest in the hut, “ what course ought we to pursue ? ’ 

“ My advice would be to attempt to achieve that, pretty 
Mabel, which rendered Xenophon so justly celebrated.” 

“ I think you mean a retreat, though I half guess at your 
allusion.” 

“You’ve imagined my meaning from the possession of a 
strong native sense, young lady. I am aware that your worthy 
father has pointed out to the corporal certain modes and 
methods by which he fancies this island could be held, in case 
the French should discover its position ; but the excellent ser- 
geant, though your father, and as good a man in his duties as 
ever wielded a spontoon, is not the great Lord Stair, or even 
the Duke of Marlborough. I’ll no denv the sergeant’s merits 
in his particular sphere, though I cannot exaggerate qualities, 
however excellent, into those of men who may be, in some trifling 
degree, his superior. Sergeant Dunham has taken counsel of 
his heart, instead of his head, in resolving to issue such orders •, 
but, if the fort fall, the blame will lie on him who ordered it to 


THE PATHFINDER. 


287 

be occupied, and not on him whose duty it was to defend it. 
Whatever may be the determination of the latter, should the 
French and their allies land, a good commander never neglects 
the preparations necessary to effect a retreat ; and I would ad- 
vise Master Cap, who is the admiral of our navy, to have a boat 
in readiness to evacuate the island, if need comes to need 
The largest boat that we have left, carries a very ample sail, 
and, by hauling it round here and mooring it under those 
bushes, there will be a convenient place for a hurried embark- 
ation, and then you’ll perceive, pretty Mabel, that it is scarce 
fifty yards before we shall be in a channel between two othei 
islands, and hid from the sight of those who may happen to be 
on this.” 

“All that you say is very true, Mr. Muir ; but may not the 
French come from that quarter themselves } If it is so good 
for retreat, it is equally good for an advance.” 

“ They’ll no have the sense to do so discreet a thing,” re- 
turned Muir, looking furtively and a little uneasily around him ; 
“ they’ll no have sufficient discretion. Your French are a head- 
over-heels nation, and usually come forward in a random way ; 
so we may look for them if they come at all, on the other side 
of the island.” 

The discourse now became exceeding desultory, touching 
principally, however, on the probabilities of an invasion and 
the best means of meeting it. 

To most of this Mabel paid but little attention, though she 
felt some surprise that Lieutenant Muir, an officer whose char- 
acter for courage stood well, should openly recommend an 
abandonment of what appeared to her to be doubly a duty, her 
father’s character being connected with the defence of the is- 
land. Her mind, however, was so much occupied with her 
guest that, seizing the first favorable moment, she left the 
table and was soon in. her own hut again. Carefully fastening 
the door, and seeing that the simple curtain was drawn before 
the single little window, Mabel next led the Dew-of-June, or 
June, as she was familiarly termed by those who spoke to her 
in English, into the outer room, making signs of affection 
and confidence. 

“ I am glad to see you, June,” said Mabel, with one of her 
sweetest smiles, and in her own winning voice : “ very glad to 
see you — what has brought you hither, and how did you dis- 
cover the island } ” 

“Talk slow,” said June, returning smile for smile, and press- 
ing the little hand she held with one of her own, that was 


288 


THE PA THFINDER. 


scarcely larger, though it had been hardened by labor, more 
slow — too quick.” 

Mabel repeated her questions, endeavoring to repress the 
impetuosity of her feelings, and she succeeded in speaking so 
distinctly as to be understood. 

“June, friend,” returned the Indian woman. 

“I believe you, June — from my soul I believe you; what 
has this to do with your visit ? ” 

“ Friend come to see friend,” answered June, again smiling 
openly in the other’s face. 

“ There is some other reason, June ; else would you never 
run this risk, and alone — you are alone, June ?” 

“June wid you — no one else. June come along, paddle 
canoe.” 

“ I hope so — I think so — nay, I know so. You would not 
be treacherous with me, June 1 ” 

“ What treacherous ? ” 

“ You would not betray me — would not give me to the 
French — to the Iroquois — to Arrowhead ” — June shook her 
head earnestly — “ you would not sell my scalp ? ” 

Here June passed her arm fondly around the slender waist 
of Mabel, and pressed her to her heart with a tenderness and 
affection that brought tears into the eyes of our heroine. It was 
done in the fond caressing manner of a woman, and it was 
scarcely possible that it should not obtain credit for sincerity 
with a young and ingenuous person of the same sex. Mabel 
returned the pressure, and then held the other off at the length 
of her arm, looking her steadily in the face, and continued her 
inquiries. 

“ If June has something to tell her friend, let her speak 
plainly,” she said. “ My ears are open.” 

“June ’fraid Arrowhead kill her.” 

“But Arrowhead will never know it.” Mabel’s blood 
mounted to her temples, as she said this ; for she felt that she 
was urging a wife to be treacherous to her husband. “That is, 
Mabel will not tell him.” 

“ He bury tomahawk in June’s head.” 

“ That must never be, dear June ; I would rather you should 
say no more, than run this risk.” 

“ Block-house good place to sleep — good place to stay.” 

“ Do you mean that I may save my life by keeping in the 
block-house, June ? Surely, surely. Arrowhead will not hurt 
you for telling me that. He cannot wish me any great harm, 
for I never injured him.” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


289 

** Arrowhead wish no harm to handsome paleface,” returned 
June, averting her face, and, though she always spoke in the 
soft gentle voice of an Indian girl, permitting its notes to fall 
so low as to cause them to sound melancholy and timid, — “ Ar- 
row'head love paleface girl.” 

Mabel blushed, she knew not why, and, for a moment, her 
questions were repressed by a feeling of inherent delicacy. 
But it was necessary to know more, for her apprehensions had 
been keenly awakened, and she resumed her inquiries. 

^ “ Arrowhead can have no reason to love or to hate she 
said. “ Is he near you ? ” 

“ Husband always near wife, here,” said June, laying her 
hand on her heart. 

“ Excellent creature ! — But, tell me June, ought I to keep in 
the block-house to-day — this morning — now ? ” 

“ Block-house very good ; good for squaw. Block-house 
got no scalp.” 

“ I fear I understand you only too well, June. Do you wish 
to see my father ! ” 

“ No here ; gone away.” 

“ You cannot know that, June ; you see the island is full of 
his soldiers.” 

“ No full ; gone away” — here June held up four of her 
fingers — “ so many red-coats.” 

“And Pathfinder — would you not like to see the Pathfinder ? 
' — he can talk with you in the Iroquois tongue.” 

“Tongue gone wid him,” said June, laughing; “keep 
tongue in his mout’.” 

There was something so sweet and contagious in the infantile 
laugh of an Indian girl, that Mabel could not refrain from join- 
ing in it, much as her fears were aroused by all that had 
passed. 

“ You appear to know, or to think to know, all about us, 
June. But, if Pathfinder be gone, Eau-douce can speak French, 
too. You know Eau-douce ; shall I run and bring to talk 
with you ? ” 

‘ Eau-douce gone, too, all but heart ; that there.” As June 
said this she laughed again, looked in different directions, as if 
unwalling to confuse the other, and laid her hand on Mabel’s 
bosom. 

Our heroine had often heard of the wonderful sagacity of 
the Indians, and of the surprising manner in which they noted 
all things while they appeared to regard none, but she was 
scarce prepared for the direction the discourse had so singu- 


THE PA THFINDER. 


290 

larly taken. Willing to change it, and at the same time trul^ 
anxious to learn how great the danger that impended over them 
might really be she rose from the camp-stool on which she had 
been seated, and by assuming an attitude of less affectionate 
confidence, she hoped to hear more of that she really desired 
to learn, and to avoid allusions to that which she found so em* 
barrassing. 

“You know how much or how little you ought to tell 
me, June,” she said, “ and I hope you love me well enough to 
give me the information I ought to hear. My dear uncle, too, 
is on the island, and you are, or ought to be, his friend, as well 
as mine ; and both of us will remember your conduct when we 
get back to Oswego.” 

“ Maybe never get back — who knows ? ” This was said 
doubtingly, or as one lays down an uncertain proposition, and 
not with a taunt or desire to alarm. 

“ No one knows what will happen but God. Our lives are 
in His hands. Still I think you are to be his instrument in 
saving us.” 

This passed June’s comprehension, and she only looked her 
ignorance, for it was evident she wished to be of use. 

“ Block-house very good,” she repeated, as soon as her 
countenance ceased to express uncertainty, laying strong empha- 
sis on the last two words. 

“Well, I understand this June, and will sleep in it to-night,, 
Of course I am to tell my uncle what you have said.” 

The Dew-of-June started, and she discovered a very mani- 
fest uneasiness at the interrogatory. 

“ No — no — no — ! ” she answered, with a volubility and ve- 
hemence that was imitated from the French of the Canadas — 
“ no good to tell Salt-water. He much talk and long tongue. 
Think woods all water ; understand not’ing. Tell Arrowhead, 
and June die.” 

“ You do my dear uncle injustice, for he would be as little 
likely to betray you as any one.” 

“ No understand. Salt-water got tongue, but no eye, no 
ear, no nose — not’ing but tongue, tongue, tongue.” 

Although Mabei did not exactly coincide in this opinion, 
she saw that Cap had not the confidence of the young Indian 
woman, and that it was idle to expect she would consent to his 
being admitted to their interview 

“ You appear to think you know our situation pretty well, 
June,” Mabel continued. “ Have you been on the island be- 
fore this visit ? 


THE PATHFINDER, 


291 


^ “ Just come.” 

How, then, do you know that what you say is true ? My 
father, the Pathfinder, and Eau-douce may be all here within 
the sound of my voice, if I choose to call them.” 

“ All gone,” said June, positively, smiling good-humoredly 
at the same time. 

“ Nay, this is more than you can say certainly, not having 
been over the island to examine it.” 

“ Got good eyes ; see boat with men go away — see ship with 
Eau-douce.” 

“ Then you have been some time watching us ; I think, how- 
ever, you have not counted them that remain.” 

June laughed, held up her four fingers again, and then pointed 
to her two thumbs ; passing a finger over the first, she repeated 
the words “ red-coat,” and, touching the last, she added — “ Salt* 
water,” “ Quarter-master,” All this was being very accurate, 
and Mabel began to entertain serious doubts of the propriety of 
her permitting her visitor to depart without her becoming more 
explicit. Still it was so repugnant to her feelings to abuse the 
confidence this gentle and affectionate creature had evidently 
reposed in her, that Mabel had no sooner admitted the thought 
of summoning her uncle than she rejected it, as unworthy of 
herself, and unjust to her friend. To aid this good resolution, 
too, there was the certainty that June would reveal nothing, but 
take refuge in a stubborn silence, if any attempt was made to 
coerce her. 

“You think, then, June,” Mabel continued, as soon as these 
thoughts had passed through her mind, “that I had better live 
in the block-house ? ” 

“ Good place for squaw. Block-house got no scalp. Logs 
t’ick.” 

“ You speak confidently, June, as if you had been in it, and 
had measured its walls.” 

June laughed,” and she looked knowing, though she said 
nothing. 

“ Does any one but yourself know how to find this island—* 
have any of the Iroquois seen it ? ” 

June looked sad, and she cast her eyes warily about her, as 
if distrusting a listener. 

“ Tuscarora everywhere — Oswego, here, Frontenac, Mohawk 
— everywhere. If he see June, kill her.” 

“ But we thought that no one knew of this island, and that 
we had no reason to fear our enemies while on it.” 

“ Much eye, Iroquois.” 


292 


THE PATHFINDER, 


“ Eyes will not always do, June. This spot is hid from 
ordinary sight, and few of even our own people know how to 
find it.” 

“One man can tell — some Yengeese talk French.” 

Mabel felt a chill at her heart. All the suspicions against 
Jasper, which she had hitherto disdained entertaining, crowded 
in a body on her thoughts, and the sensation that they brought 
was so sickening, that for an instant she imagined she was about 
to faint. Arousing herself, and remembering her promise to 
her father, she arose and walked up'^and down the hut for a 
minute, fancying that Jasper’s delinquencies were naught to 
her, though her inmost heart yearned with the desire to think 
him innocent. 

“ I understand your meaning, June,’’ she then said — “you 
wish me to know that some one has treacherously told your 
people where and how to find the island.” 

June laughed, for in her eyes artifice in war was oftener a 
merit than a crime ; but she was too true to her tribe herself, to 
say more than the occasion required. Her object was to save 
Mabel, and Mabel only, and she saw no sufficient reason for 
“travelling out of the record,” as the lawyers express it, in 
order to do anything else. 

“ Paleface know now — ” she added — “ Block-house good for 
girl— no matter for men and warriors.” 

“ But it is much matter with me, June, for one of these men 
is my uncle, whom I love, and the others are my countr3^men 
and friends. I must tell them what has passed.” 

“Then June be kill,” returned the young Indian, quietly, 
though she spoke with concern. 

“ No — they shall not know that you have been here. Still, 
they must be on their guard, and we can all go into the block- 
house.” 

“ Arrowhead know — see everything, and June be kill, June 
come to tell young paleface friend not to tell men. Every 
warrior watch his own scalp. June squaw, and tell squaw ; no 
tell men.” 

Mabel was greatly distressed at this declaration of her wild 
friend, for it was now evident the young creature understood 
that her communication was to go no further. She was ignorant 
how far these people considered the point of honor interested 
in her keeping the secret ; and, most of all, was she unable to 
say how far any indiscretion of her own might actually commit 
June, and endanger her life. All these considerations flashed 
on her mind, and reflection only rendered their influence more 


THE PATHFINDER. 


293 

painful. June, too, manifestly viewed the matter gravely, for 
she began to gather up the diferent little articles she had "drop- 
ped in taking Mabel’s hand, and was preparing to depart. To 
attempt detaining her was out of the question, and to part from 
her, after all she had hazarded to serve her, was repugnant to 
all the just and kind feelings of our heroine’s nature. 

“ June,” she said, eagerly, folding her arms round the gentle^, 
but uneducated being, “ we are friends. From me you have 
nothing to fear, for no one shall know of your visit. If you 
could give me some signal just before the danger comes — some 
sign by which to know when to go into the block-house — how 
to take care of myself.” 

June paused, for she had been in earnest in her intention 
to depart; and then she said, quietlv: 

“ Bring June pigeon.” 

A pigeon ! Where shall I find a pigeon to bring you ? ” 

“ Next hut — bring old one — June go to canoe.” 

“ I think I understand you, June : but had I not better lead 
you back to the bushes, lest you meet some of the men ! ” 

“ Go out first — count men — one — two — t’ree — four — five- 
six” — here June held up her fingers and laughed — “ all out of 
way — good — all but one — call him one side. Then sing, and 
fetch pigeon.” 

Mabel smiled at the readiness and ingenuity of the girl, and 
prepared to execute her requests. At the door, however, she 
stopped, and looked back entreatingly at the Indian w)man. 

Is there no hope of your telling me more, June ?” she 

said. 

“ Know all now — block-house good — pigeon tell — Arrow- 
head kill.” 

The last words sufficed ; for Mabel could not urge further 
communications, when her companion herself told her that the 
penalty of her revelations might be death by the hand of her 
husband. Throwing open the door, she made a sign of adieu 
to June, and went out of the hut. Mabeii resorted to the 
simple expedient of the young Indian girl, to ascertain the 
situation of the different individuals on the island. Instead 
of looking about her with the intention of recognizing faces and 
dresses, she merely counted them ; and found that three still 
remained at the fire, while two had gone to the boat, one of 
whom was Mr. Muir. The sixth man was her uncle ; and he 
was coollv arranging some fishing tackle, at no great distance 
from the fire. I'he woman was just entering her own hut : and 
this accounted for the whole party. Mabel now, affecting to 


THE PATHFINDER, 


294 

have dropped something, returned nearly to the hut she had 
left, warbling an air, stooped as. if to pick up some object from 
the ground, and hurried toward the hut June had mentioned. 
This was a dilapidated structure, and it had been converted by 
the soldiers of the last detachment into a sort of storehouse for 
their live stock. Among other things it contained a few dozen 
pigeons, which were regaling on a pile of wheat that had been 
brought off from one of the farms plundered on the Canada 
shore. Mabel had not much difficulty in catching one of these 
pigeons, although they fluttered and flew about the hut, with a 
noise like that of drums ; and, concealing it in her dress, she 
stole back toward her own hut with the prize. It was empty; 
and, without doing more than cast a glance in at the door, the 
eager girl hurried down to the shore. She had no difficulty in 
escaping observation, for the trees and bushes made a complete 
cover to her person. At the canoe she found June, who took 
the pigeon, placed it in a basket of her own manufacturing, and 
repeated the words, “ block-house good,’’ she glided out of the 
bushes and across the narrow passage as noiselessly as she had 
come. Mabel waited some time to catch a signal of leave-taking 
or amity, after her friend had landed, but none was given. The 
adjacent islands, without exception, were as quiet as if no one 
had ever disturbed the sublime repose of Nature ; and nowhere 
could any sign or symptom be discovered, as Mabel then thought, 
that might denote the proximity of the sort of danger of which 
June had given notice. 

On returning, however, from the shore, Mabel was struck 
with a little circumstance, that, in an ordinary situation, would 
have attracted no attention, but which, now that her suspicions 
had been aroused, did not pass before her uneasy eye unnoticed. 
A small piece of red bunting, such as is used in the ensigns of 
ships, was fluttering at the lower branch of a small tree, fasten- 
ed in a way to permit it to blow out, or to droop like a vessel’s 
pennant. 

Now that Mabel’s fears were awakened, June herself coula 
not have manifested greater quickness in analyzing facts that 
she believed might affect the safety of the party. She saw at 
a glance that this bit of cloth could be observed from an ad- 
jacent island ; that it lay so near the line between her own hut 
and the canoe, as to leave no doubt that June had passed near 
it, if no: directly under it; and that it might be a signal to 
communicate some important fact connected with the mode oi 
attack, to those who were probably lying in ambush near them. 
Tearing the little strip of bunting from the tree, Mabel hasten 


THE PA THFINDER. 


m 

ed on, scarce knowing what duty next required. June might 
be false to her ; but her manner, her looks, her affection, and 
her disposition, as Mabel had known it in the journey, forbade 
the idea. Then came the allusion to Arrowhead’s admiration 
of the paleface beauties, some dim recollections of the look£ 
of the Tuscarora, and a painful consciousness that few wives 
could view with kindness one who had estranged a husband’s 
affections. None of these images were distinct and clear, but 
they rather gleamed over the mind of our heroine than rested 
in it, and they quickened her pulses, as they did her step, with- 
out bringing with them the prompt and clear decisions that 
usually followed her reflections. She had hurried onward 
toward the hut occupied by the soldier’s wife, intending to 
remove at once to the block-house with the woman, though she 
could persuade no other to follow, when her impatient walk 
was interrupted by the voice of Muir. 

“Whither so fast, pretty Mabel,” he cried, “and why so 
given to solitude ? The worthy sergeant will deride my breed- 
ing, if he hear that his daughter passes the mornings alone and 
unattended to, though he well knows that it is my ardent wish 
to be her slave and companion, from the beginning of the year 
to its end.” 

“ Surely, Mr. Muir, you must have some authority here,” 
Mabel suddenly arrested her steps to say. “ One of your rank 
would be listened to, at least by a corporal.” 

“ I don’t know that — I don’t know that,” interrupted Muir, 
with an impatience and appearance of alarm that might have 
excited Mabel’s attention at another moment. “ Command is 
command, discipline, discipline, and authority, authority. Your 
good father would be sore grieved did he find me interfering 
to sully or carry off the laurels he is about to win ; and I can- 
not command the corporal, without equally commanding the 
sergeant. The wisest way will be for me to^ remain in the 
obscurity of a private individual in this enterprise ; and it is so 
that all parties, from Lundie down, understand the transac 

tion.” . 

“ This I know, and it may be well ; nor would I give my 
dear father any cause of complaint, but you may influence the 
corporal to his own good.” 

“ I’ll no say that,” returned Muir, in his sly Scotch way ,• 
“ it would be far safer to promise to influence him to his injury. 
Mankind, pretty Mabel, have their peculiarities, and i^flu* 
ence % fellow-being to his own good is one of the most difficult 
tasks of human nature, while the opposite is just the easiest 


THE PATHFINDER, 


296. 

You’ll no forget this, my dear ; but bear it in mind for yom 
edification and government ; but what is that you’re twisting 
round your slender finger, as you may be said to twist hearts ? ” 

“ It is nothing but a bit of cloth — a sort of flag — a trifle 
that is hardly worth our attention at this grave moment — • 
if ” 

“ A trifle ! It’s no so trifling as 3^0 may imagine. Mistress 
Mabel,'’ taking the bit of bunting from her, and stretching it 
at full length with both his arms extended, while his face grew 
grave and his e3^e watchful. “ Ye’ll no ha’ been finding this, 
Mabel Dunham, in the breakfast ” 

Mabel simply acquainted him with the spot where, and the 
manner in which she had found the bit of cloth. While she 
was speaking, the eye of the quartermaster was not quiet for a 
moment, glancing from the rag to the face of our heroine, then 
back again to the rag. That his suspicions were awakened was 
easy to be seen, nor was he long in letting it be known what 
direction they had taken. 

“ We are not in a part of the world where our ensigns and 
gauds ought to be spread abroad to the wind, Mabel Dunham ? ” 
he said, with an ominous shake of the head. 

“ I thought as much m3^self, Mr. Muir, and brought away 
the little flag, lest it might be the means of betraying our pres- 
ence here to the enemy, even though nothing is intended b3» 
its display. Ought not my uncle to be made acquainted with 
the circumstance ? ” 

“ I no see the necessity for that, pretty Mabel, for, as you 
justly say, it is a circumstance, and circumstances sometimes 
worry the worthy mariner. But this flag, if flag it can be called, 
belongs to a seaman’s craft. You may perceive that it is made 
of what is called bunting, and that is a description of cloth used 
only by vessels for such purposes, our colors being of silk, as 
you may understand, or painted canvas. It’s surprisingly like 
the fly of the Scud’s ensign ! And now I recollect me to have 
observed that a piece had been cut from that very flag 1 ” 

Mabel felt her heart sink, but she had sufficient self-com- 
mand not to attempt an answer. 

‘‘ It must be looked to,” Muir continued, “ and after all, I 
think it may be well to hold a short consultation with Master 
Cap, than whom a more loyal subject does not exist in the 
British Empire.” 

“ I have thought the warning so serious,” Mabel rejoined, 
“ that I am about to remove to the block-house, and to take 
the woman with me.” 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


297 

I do not see the prudence of that, Mabel. The block- 
house will be the first spot assailed, should there really be an 
attack ; and it’s no well provided for a siege, that must be 
allowed. If I might advise in so delicate a contingency, I 
would recommend your taking refuge in the boat, which, as you 
may now perceive, is most favorably placed to retreat by that 
channel opposite, where all in it would be hid by the islands, 
in one or two minutes. Water leaves no trail, as Pathfinder 
well expresses it, and there appear to be so many different 
passages in that quarter, that escape would be more than prob- 
able. I’ve always been of opinion that Lundie hazarded too 
much, in occupying a post as far advanced, and as much ex- 
posed, as this.” 

“ It’s too late to regret it now, Mr. Muir, and we have only 
to consult our own security.” 

“ And the king’s honor, pretty Mabel. Yes, his majesty’s 
arms, and his glorious name, are not to be overlooked on any 
occasion.” 

“Then I think it might be better, if we all turned-our eyes 
toward the place that has been built to maintain them, instead 
of the boat,” said Mabel, smiling ; “ and so Mr. Muir, I am tor 
the block-house, with a disposition to await there the return of 
my father and his party. He would be sadly grieved at finding 
we had fled, when he got back, successful himself, and niled 
with the confidence of our having been as faithful to our auties 
as he has been to his own.” 

“ Nay nay, for Heaven’s sake, do not misunderstand me, 
Mabel,” Muir interrupted, with some alarm of manner, “ I am 
far from intimating that any but you females ought to take ref- 
uge in the boat. The duty of us men is sufficiently plain, no 
doubt, and my resolution has been formed from the first, to 
stand or fall by the block-house.” 

“And did you imagin Mr. Muir, th^t two females could 
row that heavy boat in a way to escape the bark canoe of an 
Indian ? ” 

“ Ah ! my pretty Mabel, love is seldom logical, and its fears 
and misgivings are apt to warp the faculties. I only saw youi 
sweet person in possession of the means of safety, and over- 
looked the want of ability to use them. But you’ll not be so 
cruel, lovely creature, as to impute to me as a fault, my intense 
anxiety on your own account ! ” 

Mabel had heard enough. Her mind was too much occupied 
with what had passed that morning, and with her fears, to wish 
to linger further to listen to love speeches, that, in her most 


THE PA THFINDER. 


298 

joyous and buoyant moments, she would iiave found unpleasant. 
She took a hasty leave of her companion, and was about to 
trip away toward the hut of the other woman, when Muir 
arrested the movement by laying a hand on her arm. 

“ One word, Mabel,” he said, “ before you leave me. This 
little flag may, or it may not, have a particular meaning ; if it 
has, now that we are aware of its being shown, may it not be 
better to put it back again, while we watch vigilantly for some 
answer that may betray the conspiracy ; and if it mean noth- 
thing, why, nothing will follow.” 

“ This may be all right, Mr. Muir, though if the whole is 
accidental, the flag might be the occasion of the fort’s being 
discovered.” 

Mabel stayed to utter no more, but she was soon out of 
sight, running into the hut toward which she had been first 
proceeding. The quarter-master remained on the very spot, 
and in the precise attitude in which she had left him for quite 
a minute, first looking at the bounding figure of the girl, and 
then at the bit of bunting, which he still held before him, in a 
way to denote indecision. His irresolution lasted but for this 
minute, however, for he was soon beneath the tree, where he 
fastened the mimic flag to a branch again ; though, from his 
ignorance of the precise spot from which it had taken by Mabel, 
he left it fluttering from a part of the oak where it was still 
more exposed than before, to the eyes of any passenger on the 
river, though less in view from the island itself. 


CHAPTER XXI. 


Each one has had his supping mess, 

The cheese is put into the press, 

The pans and bowls clean scalded all, 

Reared up against the milk-house wall’* 

— COTTOK. 


It seemed strange to Mabel Dunham, as she passed along 
on her way to find her female companion, that others should be 
so composed, while she herself felt as if the responsibilities of 
life and death rested on her shoulders. It is true that distrust 
of June’s motives mingled with her forebodings ; but, when she 
came to recall the affectionate and natural manner of the young 
Indian girl, and all the evidence of good faith and sincerity, that 


THE PATHFINDER. 


299 

she had seen in her conduct, during the familiar intercourse of 
their journey, she rejected the idea, with the unwillingness of a 
generous disposition to believe ill of others. She saw, however, 
that she could not put her companions properly on their guard 
without letting them into the secret of her conference with 
June ; and she found herself compelled to act cautiously, and 
with a forethought to which she was unaccustomed, more es» 
pecially in a matter of so much moment. 

The soldier’s wife was told to transport the necessaries into 
the block-house, and admonished not to be far from it at any 
time during the day. Mabel did not explain her reasons. She 
merely stated that she had detected some signs, in walking 
about the island, that induced her to apprehend that the enemy 
had more knowledge of its position than had been previously 
believed, and that they two, at least, would do well to be in 
readiness to seek a refuge at the shortest notice. It was not 
difficult to arouse the apprehension of this person, who, though 
a stout-hearted Scotchwoman, was ready enough to listen to 
anything that confirmed her dread of Indian cruelties. - As soon 
as Mabel believed that her companion was sufficiently frightened 
to make her wary, she drew out some hints, touching the in- 
expediency of letting the soldiers know the extent of their own 
fears. This was done with a view to prevent discussions and 
inquiries that might embarrass our heroine ; she determined to 
render her uncle, the corporal, and his men, more cautious by 
adopting a different course. Unfortunately, the British army 
could not have furnished a worse person for the particular duty 
he was now required to discharge than Corporal McNab, the 
individual who had been left in command during the absence 
of Sergeant Dunham. On the one hand he was resolute, 
prompt, familiar with all the details of a soldier’s life, and used 
to war ; on the other, he was supercilious as regards the pro- 
vincials, opinionated on every subject connected with the nar- 
row limits of his professional practice, much disposed to fancy 
the British empire the centre of all that is excellent in the 
world, and Scotland the focus of, at least, all moral excellence 
in that empire. In short, he was an epitome, though on a scale 
suited to his rank, of those very qualities which were so peculiar 
to the servants of the crown that were sent into the colonies, 
as these servants estimated themselves in comparison with the 
natives of the country ; or, in other words, he considered the 
American as an animal inferior to the parent stock, and viewed 
all his notions of military service, in particular, as undigested 
and absurd. Braddock himself was not less disposed to take 


THE PATHFINDER. 


300 

advice from a provincial than his humble imitator ; and he had 
been known, on more than one occasion, to demur to the di- 
rections and orders of two or three commissioned officers of the 
corps, who happened to be born in America, simply for that 
reason ; taking care, at the same time, with true Scottish wari- 
ness, to protect himself from the pains and penalties of positive 
disobedience. A more impracticable subject, therefore, could 
not well have offered for the purpose of Mabel, and yet she felt 
obliged to lose no time in putting her plan in execution. 

“ My father has left you a responsible command, corporal,’^ 
she said, as soon as she could catch McNab a little apart from 
the I'est of the soldiers ; “ for should the island fall into the 
hands of the enemy, not only would we be captured, but the 
party that is now out would in all probability become their 
prisoners also.” 

“ It needs no journey from Scotland to this place, to know 
the facts needful to be o’ that way of thinking,” returned Mc- 
Nab, dryly. 

“ I do not doubt your understanding it as well as myself, 
Mr. McNab ; but I’m fearful that you veterans, accustomed as 
you are to dangers and battles, are a little apt to overlook some 
of the precautions that may be necessary in a situation as pe- 
culiar ,as ours.” 

“ They say Scotland is no conquered country, young woman, 
but I’m thinking there must be some mistake in the matter, as 
we, her children, are so drowsy-headed, and apt to be overtaken, 
when we least expect it.” 

“Nay, my good friend, you mistake my meaning. In the 
first place, I’m not thinking of Scotland at all, but of this 
island ; and then I am far from doubting your vigilance when 
you think it necessary to practise it ; but my great fear is that 
there may be danger to which your courage will make you in- 
different.” 

“ My courage Mistress Dunham, is doubtless of a very poor 
quality, being nothing but Scottish courage ; your father’s is 
Yankee, and were he here amang us, we should see different 
preparations beyond a doubt. Well, times are getting wrang, 
when foreigners hold commissions and carry halberds in Scot- 
tish corps ; and I no wonder that battles are lost, and campaigns 
go wrang end foremost.” 

Mabel was almost in despair, but the quiet warning of June 
was still too vividly impressed on her mind to allow her to yield 
the mytter. She changed her mode of operating, therefore, 
still clinging to the hope of getting the whole party within the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


301 


block-house, without being compelled to betray the source 
whence she obtained her notices of the necessity of vigilance. 

“ I daresay you are right, Corporal McNab,” she observed, 
“for I’ve often heard of the heroes of your country, who have 
been among the first of the civilized world, if what they tell me 
of them is true.” 

“ Have you read the history of Scotland, Mistress Dun- 
ham ? ” demanded the corporal, looking up at his pretty com- 
panion, for the first time, with something like a smile on his 
hard, repulsive countenance. 

“I have read a little of it, corporal, but I’ve heard much 
more. The lady who brought me up had Scottish blood in her 
veins, and was fond of the subject ! ” 

“ I’ll warrant ye, the sergeant no troubled himself to expa- 
tiate on the renown of the country where his regiment was 
raised ? ” 

“ My father has other things to think of, and the little I 
know was got from the lady I have mentioned.” 

“ She’ll no be forgetting to tell ye o’ Wallace } ” 

“ Wallace ? — of him I have even read a good deal.” 

“And o’ Bruce — and the affair o’ Bannockburn ? ” 

“ Of that, too, as well as of Culloden-muir.” 

The last of these battles was then a recent event, it having 
actually been fought within the recollection of our heroine ; 
whose notions of it, however were so confused that she scarcely 
appreciated the effect her allusion might produce on her com- 
panion, She knew it had been a victory, and had often heard 
the guests of her patroness mention it with triumph ; and she 
fancied their feelings would find a sympathetic chord in those 
of every British soldier. Unfortunately, McNab had fought 
throughout that luckless day on the side of the Pretender ; and 
a deep scar that garnished his face, had been left there by the 
sabre of a German- soldier, in the service of the House of 
Hanover. He fancied that his wound bled afresh at Mabel’s 
allusion ; and it is certain that the blood rushed to his face in 
a torrent, as if it would pour out of his skin at the cicatrix. 

“ Hoot ! hoot awa’ ! ” he fairly shouted. “ with your Culloden 
and Sheriff-muirs, young woman; ye’ll no be understanding the 
subject at all, and will manifest not only wisdom, but modesty, 
in speaking o’ your ain country and its many failings. King 
George has some loyal subjects in the colonies, na doubt, ; but 
’twill be a lang time before he sees or hears any guid of 
them.” 

Mabel was surprised at the corporal’s heat, for she had not 


THE PA THFINDER. 


302 

the smallest idea where the shoe pinched ; but she was detei 
mined not to give up the point. 

“ I’ve always heard that the Scotch had two of the good 
qualities of soldiers,” she said, “courage and circumspection; 
and I feel persuaded that Corporal McNab will sustain tha 
national renown.” 

“ Ask ye’r own father, Mistress Dunham ; he is acquaint'^ 
with Corporal McNab, and will no be backward to point out 
his demerits. We have been in battle the’gither, and he is 
my superior officer, and has a sort o’ official right to give the 
characters of his subordinates.” 

“ My father thinks well of you, MacNab, or he would not 
have left you in charge of this island and all it contains, his 
own daughter included. Among, other things, I well know that 
he calculates largely on your prudence. He expects the block- 
house, in particular, to be strictly attended to.” 

“ If he wishes to defend the honor of the 55th behind logs, 
he ought to have remained in command himself ; for, to speak 
frankly, it goes against a Scotchman’s bluid and opinions to be 
beaten out of the field even before he is attacked. We are 
broadsword men, and love to stand foot to foot with the foe. 
This American mode of fighting, that is getting into so much 
favor, will destroy the reputation of his majesty’s army, if it no 
destroy its spirit.” 

“No true soldier despises caution. Even Major Duncan 
himself, than whom there is none braver, is celebrated for his 
care of his men.” 

“ Lundie has his weakness, and is fast forgetting the broad- 
sword and open heaths, in his tree and rifle practice. But, 
Mistress Mabel, tak’ the word of an old soldier, who has seen 
his fifty-fifth year, when he tails ye, that there is no surer meth- 
od to encourage your enemy than to seem to fear him ; and 
there is no danger in this Indian warfare that the fancies and 
imaginations of your Americans have not augmented and em 
larged upon, until they see a savage in every bush. We Scots 
come from a naked region, and have no need, and less relish, 
for covers, and so ye’ll be seeing, Mistress Dunham ” 

The corpora] gave a spiing into the air, fell forward on his 
face, and rolled over on his back — the whole passing so sud- 
denly, that Mabel had scarcely heard the sharp crack of the 
rifle that sent a bullet through his body. Our heroine did not 
shriek — did not even tremble ; the occurrence was too sudden, 
too awful, and too unexpected for that exhibition of weakness ; 
on the contrary, she stepped hastily forward, with a natural im 


THE PATHFINDER. 


303 

pulse to aid her companion. There was just enough of life 
left in McNab to betray his entire consciousness of all that 
had passed. His countenance had the wild look of one who 
had been overtaken by death, by surprise ; and Mabel in her 
cooler moments, fancied that it showed the tardy repentance of 
a wilful and obstinate sinner. 

“Ye’ll be getting into the block-house as fast as possible,’^ 
McNab whispered, as Mabel leaned over him, to catch his dy- 
ing words. 

Then came over our heroine the full consciousness of her 
situation, and of the necessity of exertion. She cast a rapid 
glance at the body at her feet, saw that it had ceased to breathe, 
and fled. It was but a few minutes’ run to the block-house, 
the door of which Mabel had barely gained, when it was closed 
violently in her face by Jennie, the soldier’s wife’, who, in blind 
terror, thought only of her own safety. The reports of five or 
six rifles were heard while Mabel was calling out for admit* 
tance ; and the additional terror they produced, prevented the 
woman within from undoing quickly the very fastenings she had 
been so expert in applying. After a minute’s delay, how- 
ever, Mabel found the door reluctantly yielding to her constant 
pressure, and she forced her slender body through the opening, 
the instant it was large enough to allow of its passage. By 
this time Mabel’s heart ceased to beat tumultuously, and she 
gained sufficient self-command to act collectedly. Instead of 
yielding to the almost convulsive efforts of her companion to 
close the door again, she held it open long enough to ascertain 
that none of her own party was in sight, or likely, on the in- 
stant, to endeavor to gain admission ; she then allowed the 
opening to be shut. Her orders and proceedings now became 
more calm and rational. But a single bar was crossed and 
Jennie was directed to stand in readiness to remove even that, 
at any application from a friend. She then ascended the lad- 
der to the room above, where, by means of loop-holes, she was 
enabled to get as good a view of the island as the surrounding 
bushes would allow. Admonishing her associate below to be 
firm and steady, she made as careful an examination of the en- 
virons as her situation permitted. 

To her great surprise, Mabel could not, at first, see a living 
soul on the island, friend or enemy. Neither Frenchman nor 
Indian was visible, though a small straggling white cloud that 
was floating before the wind, told her in which quarter she 
ought to look for them. The rifles had been discharged from 
the direction of the island whence June had come, though 


THE PA THFINDER, 


304 

whether the enemy were on that island, or had actually landed 
on her own, Mabel could not say. Going to the loop that com- 
manded a view of the spot where McNab lay, her blood cur- 
dled at perceiving all three of his soldiers lying apparently life- 
less at his side. These men had rushed to a common centre 
at the first alarm, and had been shot down almost simulta- 
neously by the invisible foe whom the corporal had affected 
to despise. 

Neither Cap nor Lieutenant Muir w^as to be seen. With a 
beating heart, Mabel examined every opening through the 
trees, and ascended even to the upper story or garret of the 
block-house, where she got a full view of the whole island, so 
far as its covers would allow ; but with no better success. She 
had expected to see the body of her uncle lying on the grass, 
like those of the soldiers, but it was nowhere visible. Turning 
toward the spot where the boat lay, Mabel saw that it was still 
fastened to the shore ; and then she supposed that, by some 
accident, Muir had been prevented from effecting his retreat in 
that quarter. In short, the island lay in the quiet of the grave, 
the bodies of the soldiers rendering the scene as fearful as it 
was extraordinary. 

“ For God’s holy sake. Mistress Mabel,” called out the 
woman from below', for though her fear had got to be too un- 
governable to allow her to keep silence, our heroine’s superior 
refinement, more than the regimental station of her father, still 
controlled her mode of address ; “ for his Holy sake. Mistress 
Mabel, tell me if any of our friends are living ! I think I hear 
groans that grow fainter and fainter, and fear that they will all 
be tomahawked ! ” 

Mabel now remembered that one of the soldiers was this 
woman’s husband, and she trembled at what might be the im- 
mediate effect of her sorrow, should his death become suddenly 
known to her. The groans, too, gave a little hope, though she 
feared they might come from her uncle, who lay out of view. 

“ We are in His holy keeping, Jennie,” she answered. 
“ We must trust in Providence, while we neglect none of its 
benevolent means of protecting ourselves. Be careful with the 
door ; on no account open it without my directions.” 

“ Oh ! tell me. Mistress Mabel, if you can anywhere see 
Sandy ! If I could only let him know that I’m in safety ; the 
guid man would be easier in his mind, whether free or a pris- 
oner.” 

Sandy w'as Jennie’s husband, and he lay dead in plain view 
of the loop from which our heroine was then looking. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


305 

** You no tell me if you’re seeing of Sandy,” the woman re- 
peated from below, impatient at Mabel’s silence. 

“ There are some of our people gathered about the body of 
McNab,” was the answer, for it seemed sacrilegious in her eyes 
to tell a direct untruth, under the awful circumstances in which 
she was placed. 

“ Is Sandy amang them ? ” demanded the woman in a voice 
that sounded appalling by its hoarseness and energy. 

“ He may be, certainly, for I see one, two, three, four, and 
all in the scarlet coats of the regiment.” 

“ Sandy ! ” called out the woman frantically ; “ why d’ye no 
care for yoursal’, Sandy Come hither the instant, man, and 
share your wife’s fortunes, in weal or woe. It’s no a moment 
for your silly discipline and vainglorious notions of honor 1 
Sandy ! Sandy ! ” 

Mabel heard the bar turn, and then the door creaked on 
its hinges. Expectation, not to say terror, held her in suspense 
at the loop, and she soon beheld Jennie rushing through the 
bushes, in the direction of the cluster of dead. It took the 
woman but an instant to reach the fatal spot. So sudden and 
unexpected had been the blow, that she, in her terror,- did not 
appear to comprehend its weight. Some wild and half-frantic 
notion of a deception troubled her fancy, and she imagined 
that the men were trifling with her fears. She took her hus- 
band’s hand, and it was still warm, while she thought a covert 
smile was struggling on his lips. 

“ Why will ye fool life away, Sandy ? ” she cried, pulling at 
the arm. “ Ye’ll all be murdered by these accursed Indians, 
and you no takin’ to the block like trusty soldiers ! Awa ’ ! — 
awa’, and no be losing the precious moments.” 

In her desperate efforts, the woman pulled the body of her 
husband in a way to cause the head to turn completely over, 
when the small hole in the temple, caused by the entrance of a 
rifle bullet, and a few drops of blood trickling over the skin, 
revealed the meaning of her husband’s silence. As the horrid 
truth flashed, in its full extent, on her mind, the woman clasped 
her hands, gave a shriek that pierced the glades of every 
island near, and fell at length on the dead body of the soldier 
Thrilling, heart-reaching, appalling as was that shriek, it was 
melody to the cry that followed it so quickly as to blend the 
sounds. The terrific war-whoop arose out of the covers of the 
island, and some twenty savages, horrible in their paint and 
the other devices of Indian ingenuity, rushed forward, eager to 
secure the coveted scalps. Arrowhead was foremost, and i^ 


THE PA THFINDER. 


306 

was his tomahawk that brained the insensible Jennie, and hei 
reeking hair was hanging at his giidle as a trophy, in less than 
two minutes after she had quitted the block-house. His com- 
panions were equally active, and McNab and his soldiers no 
longer presented the quiet aspect of men who slumbered. They 
were left in their gore, unequivocally butchered corpses. 

All this passed in much less time than has been required to 
relate it, and all this did Mabel witness. She had stood riveted 
to the spot, gazing on the whole horrible scene, as if enchanted 
by some charm, nor did the idea of self, or of her own danger, 
once obtrude itself on her thoughts. But no sooner did she 
perceive the place where the men had fallen, covered with 
savages, exulting in the success of their surprise, than it occur- 
red to her that Jennie had left the block-house door unbarred. 
Her heart beat violently, for that defence alone stood between 
her and immediate death, and she sprang toward the ladder, 
with the intention of descending to make sure of it. Her foot 
had not yet reached the floor of the second story, however, 
when she heard the door grating on its hinges, and she gave 
herself up for lost. Sinking on her knees, the terrified but 
courageous girl endeavored to prepare herself for death, and to 
raise her thoughts to God. The instinct of life, however, was 
too strong for prayer, and while her lips moved, the jealous 
senses watched every sound beneath. When her ears heaid 
the bars, which went on pivots, secured to the centre of the 
door, turning into their fastenings, not one, as she herself had 
directed, with a view to admit her uncle, should he apply, but 
all three, she started again to her feet, all spiritual contempla- 
tions vanishing in her actual temporal condition, and it seemed 
as if all her faculties were absorbed in the sense of hearing. 

The thoughts are active in a moment so fearful. At first 
Mabel fancied that her uncle had entered the block-house, 
and she was about to descend the ladder and throw herself into 
his arms; then the idea that it might be an Indian, who had 
barred the door to shut out intruders, while he plundered at 
eisure, arrested the movement. The profound stillness below, 
was unlike the bold, restless movements of Cap, and it seemed 
to savor more of the artifice of an enemy ; if a friend at all, it 
could only be her uncle or the quartermaster ; for the horrible 
conviction now presented itself to our heroine, that to these 
two, and herself, were the whole party suddenly reduced, if, 
indeed, the tw-o latter survived. This consideration held Mabel 
in check, and for quite two minutes more, a breathless silence 
reigned in the building. During this time, the girl stood af 


THE PATHFINDER. 


307 

the foot of the upper ladder, the trap which led to the lower, 
opening on the opposite side of the floor ; the eyes of Mabel 
were riveted on this spot, for she now began to expect to see, 
at each instant, the horrible sight of a savage face at the hole. 
This apprehension soon became so intense that she looked about 
her for a place of concealment. The procrastination of the 
catastrophe she now fully expected, though it were only for a 
moment, afforded a relief. The room contained several bar- 
rels, and behind two of these Mabel crouched, placing her 
eyes at an opening by which she could still watch the trap. 
She made another effort to pray, but the moment was too 
horrible for that relief. She thought, too, that she heard a low 
rustling, as if one were ascending the lower ladder, with an 
effort at caution so great as to betray itself by its own excess ; 
then followed a creaking, that she was certain came from one 
of the steps of the ladder, which had made the same noise 
undei her own light weight, as she ascended. This was one 
of those instants into which are compressed the sensations of 
years of ordinary existence. Life, death, eternity, and ex- 
treme bodily pain, were all standing out in bold relief, from 
the plane of everyday occurrences ; and she might have been 
taken, at that moment, for a beautiful, pallid representation of 
herself, equally without motion and without vitality. But, while 
such, was the outward appearance of the form, never had 
there been a time in her brief career when Mabel heard 
more acutely, saw more clearly, or felt more vividly. As yet, 
nothing was visible at the trap ; but her ears, rendered ex- 
quisitely sensitive by intense feeling, distinctly acquainted her 
that some one was within a few inches of the opening of the 
floor ; next followed the evidence of her eyes, which beheld 
the dark hair of an Indian rising so slowly through the passage 
that the movements of the head might be likened to that of 
the minute-hand of a clock; then came the dark skin and wild 
features, until the whole of the swarthy face had risen above 
the floor. The human countenance seldom appears to advam 
tage when partially concealed, and Mabel imagined many ad* 
ditional horrors as she first saw the black, roving eyes, and the 
expression of wildness, as the savage countenance was revealed^ 
as it might be, inch by inch ; but when the entire head was 
raised above the floor, a second and a better look assured our 
heroine that she saw the gentle, anxious, and even handsome 
face, of June. 


3o8 


THE PATHFINDER, 


CHAPTER XXII. 

“ Spectre though I be, 

I am not sent to scare thee or deceive ; 

But in reward of thy fidelity." 

— Wordsworth 

It would be difficult to say which evinced the most satisfac- 
tion, when Mabel sprang to her feet and appeared in the centra 
of the room — our heroine on finding that her visitor was the 
wife of Arrowhead, and not Arrowhead himself, or June, at 
discovering that her advice had been followed and that the 
block-house contained the person she had so anxiously, and 
almost hopelessly, sought. They embraced each other, and 
tne unsophisticated Tuscarora woman laughed in her sweet 
accents, as she held her friend at arm’s length and made cer- 
Viin of her presence. 

‘‘ Block-house good,” said the young Indian — “ got no 
scalp.” 

“ It is, indeed, good, June,” Mabel answered, with a shud- 
der, veiling her eyes at the same time, as if to shut out a view 
of the horrors she had - so lately witnessed. “ Tell me, for 
God’s sake ! if you know what has become of my dear uncle ? 
I have looked in all directions without being able to see him.” 

“ No here, in block-house ? ” June asked with some curi- 
osity. 

“ Indeed he is not — I am quite alone in this place ; Jennie, 
the woman who was with me having rushed out to join herhus* 
band, and perishing for her imprudence. 

“ June know — June see ; very bad. Arrowhead no feel for 
any wife — no feel for his own.” 

“ Ah ! June ; your life, at least is safe ! ” 

“ Don’t know — Arrowhead kill me if he knew all.” 

“ God bless and protect you, June — he will bless and pro 
tect you for your humanity. Tell me what is to be done, and 
if my poor uncle is still living ? ” 

“ Don’t know. Salt-water has boat ; maybe he go on 
river.” 

“ The boat is still on the shore, but neither my uncle not 
die quartermaster is anywhere to be seen.” 

“ No kill, or June would see. Hide away ! Red man bide; 
no shame for paleface.” 


THE P/t THFINDER, 


309 

It is not the shame that I fear for them, but the opportu 
nity. Your attack was awfully sudden, June ! ” 

“ Tuscarora ! ” returned the other, smiling with exultation 
at the dexterity of her husband. “ Arrowhead great warrior.” 

“ You are too good and gentle for this sort of life, June ; 
you caniiot be happy in such scenes ! ” 

June’s countenance clouded, and Mabel fancied there was 
some of the savage fire of a chief in her brow as she ^ns- 
wered, — 

“ Yengeese too greedy — take away all hunting grounds — • 
chase Six Nation from morning tonight ; wicked king — wicked 
people. Paleface very bad.” 

Mabel knew that, even in that distant day, there was much 
truth in this opinion, though she was too well instructed not to 
understand that the monarch, in this, as in a thousand other 
cases, was blamed for acts of which he was most probably igno- 
rant. She felt the justice of the rebuke, therefore, too much to at- 
tempt an answer, and her thoughts naturally reverted to her 
own situation. 

“ And what am I to do, June ? ” she demanded. It can- 
not be long before your people will assault this building.” 

“ Blockhouse good — got no scalp.” 

“ But they will soon discover that it has got no garrison, 
too, if they do not know it already. You yourself told me the 
number of people that were on the island, and doubtless you 
learned it from Arrowhead.” 

Arrowhead know,” answered June, holding up six fingers 
to indicate the number of the men. “ All red men know. Four 
lose scalp already — two got ’em yet ! ” 

“ Do not speak of it June ; the horrid thought curdles my 
blood. Your people cannot know that I am alone in the block- 
house, but may fancy my uncle and the quartermaster with me, 
and may set fire to the building, in order to dislodge them. 
They tell me that fire is the great danger in such places.” 

“ No burn block-house,” said June, quietly. 

“ You cannot know that, my good June, and I have no 
means tv keep them off.” 

“ No burn block-house Block-house good ; got no scalp.” 

“ But tell me why, June ; I fear they will burn it.” 

‘‘ Block-house wet — much rain — logs green — no burn easy. 
Red man know it — fine- t’ing — then no burn it to tell Yengees 
that Iroquois been here. Fader come back, miss block-house, 
no found. No, no ; In jin too much cunning \ no touch any- 
thing.” 


310 


THE TA THFINDER. 


“ I understand you, June, and hope your prediction may be 
true ; for, as regards my dear father, should he escape — per- 
haps he is already dead or captured, June ? ” 

“No touch fader — don’t know where he gone — water got 
no trail — red man can’t follow. No burn block-house — block* 
house good — got no scalp.” 

“ Do you think it possible for me to remain here safely 
until my father returns ? ” 

“ Don’t know — daughter tell best when fader come back.” 

Mabel felt uneasy at the glance of June’s dark eyes as she 
uttered this, for the unpleasant surmise arose that her com- 
panion was endeavoring to discover a fact that might be useful 
to her own people, while it would lead to the destruction of her 
parent and his party. She was about to make an evasive ans- 
wer, when a heavy push at the outer door, suddenly drew all her 
thoughts to the immediate danger. 

“ They come ! ” she exclaimed — “ perhaps, June, it is my 
uncle, or the quartermaster. I cannot keep out even Mr. Muir 
at a moment like this.” 

“ Why no look — plenty loophole — made purpose.” 

Mabel took the hint, and going to one of the downward 
loops that had been cut through the logs in the part that over- 
hung the basement, she cautiously raised the little block that 
ordinarily filled a small hole, and caught a glance at what was 
passing at the door. The start and changing countenance told 
her companion that some of her own people were below. 

“ Red man,” said June, lifting a finger in admonition to be 
prudent. 

“ Four ; and horrible in their paint and bloody trophies. 
Arrowhead is among them.” 

June had moved to a corner where several spare rifles were 
deposited, and had already taken one into her hand, when the 
name of her husband appeared to arrest her movements. It 
was but for an instant, however, for she immediately went to 
the loop, and was about to thrust the muzzle of the piece 
through it, when a feeling of natural aversion induced Mabel to 
seize her arm. 

“ No — no — no — June,” said the latter — “ not against youi 
own husbaud. though my life be the penalty.” 

“ No hurt Arrowhead” — returned June, with a slight shud- 
der — “ no hurt red man at all. No fire at ’em — only scare.” 

Mabel now comprehended the intention of June, and no 
longer opposed it. The latter thrust the muzzle of the rifle 
through the loop-hole, and taking care to make noise enough 


THE PA THFINDER, 


311 

to attract attention, she pulled the trigger. The piece had no 
sooner been discharged than Mabel reproached her friend for 
the very act that was intended to serve her. 

“You declared it was not your intention to fire,’^ she said, 
“and you may have destroyed your own husband.” 

“ All run away before I fire” — returned June, laughing, and 
going to another loop to watch the movements of her friends, 
laughing, still heartier. “ See — get cover — every warrior. 
Think Saltwater and quartermaster here. Take good care 
now.” 

“Heaven be praised! And now, June, I may hope fora 
little time to compose my thoughts to prayer, that I may not 
die like Jennie, thinking only of life and the things of the 
world.” 

June laid aside the rifle, and came and seated herself near 
the box on which Mabel had sunk, under that physical reac- 
tion which accompanies joy as well as sorrow. She looked 
steadily in our heroine’s face, and the latter thought that her 
countenance had an expression of severity mingled with its 
concern. 

“ Arrowhead great warrior — ” said the Tuscarora’s wife. 
“ All the gals of tribe look at him much. The paleface beauty 
has eyes too ! ” 

“June! — what do these words — that look imply — what 
would you say ? ” 

“ Why you so ’fraid June shoot Arrowhead ? ” 

“ Would it not have been horrible to see a wife destroy her 
own husband! No, June ; rather would I have died myself.” 

“ Very sure, dat all ! ” 

“ That was all, June, as God is my judge — and surely that 
was enough. No — no — there have been sufficient horrors to- 
day, without increasing them by an act like this. What other 
motive can you suspect ? ” 

“ Don’t know. Poor Tuscarora gal very foolish. Arrow- 
head great chief, and look all round him. Talk of paleface 
beauty in his sleep. Great chief like many wives.” 

“Can a chief possess more than one wife, June, among 
your people ? ” 

“ Have as many as he can keep — great hunter marry often. 
Arrowhead got only June now, but he look too much — see 
too much — talk too much of paleface gal ! ” 

Mabel was conscious of this fact, which had distressed her 
not a little in the course of their journey ; but it shocked hei 
to hear this allusion, coming, as it did, from the mouth of tha 


312 


THE PA THFINDER. 


wife herself. She knew that habits and opinions made great 
differences ■ in such matters, but, in addition to the pain and 
mortification she experienced at being the unwilling rival of a 
wife, she felt an apprehension that jealousy would be but an 
equivocal guarantee for her personal safety, in her present 
situation. A closer look at June, however, reassured her; for 
while it was easy to trace in the unpractised features of this 
unsophisticated being, the pain of blighted affections, no dis- 
trust could have tortured the earnest expression of her honest 
countenance into that of treachery or hate. 

“You will not betray me, June,” Mabel said, pressing the 
other’s hand, and yielding to an impulse of generous confidence, 
“ You will not give up one of your own sex to the tomahawk .? ’•* 

“ No tomahawk touch you. Arrowhead no let ’em. If June 
must have sister-wife, love to have you.” 

“ No, June ; my religion, my feelings, both forbid it ; and, 
if I could be the wife of an Indian at all, I would never take 
the place that is yours, in a wigwam.” 

June made no answer, but she looked gratified, even grate- 
ful. She knew that few, perhaps no Indian girl, within the 
circle of Arrowhead’s acquaintance, could compare with herself 
in personal attractions; and though it might suit her husband 
to marry a dozen wives, she knew of no one, besides Mabel, 
whose influence she could really dread. So keen an interest, 
however, had she taken in the beauty, winning manners, kind- 
ness, and feminine gentleness of our heroine, that when jeal- 
ousy came to chill these feelings, it had rather lent strength to 
that interest, and, under its wayward influence, had actually 
been one of the strongest of the incentives that had induced 
her to risk so much, in order to save her imaginary rival from 
the consequences of the attack that she so well knew was about 
to take place. In a word, June, with a wife’s keenness of per- 
ception, had detected Arrowhead’s admiration of Mabel ; and 
instead of feeling that harrowing jealousy that might have 
rendered her rival hateful, as would have been apt to be the 
case with a woman unaccustomed to defer to the superior rights 
of the lordly sex, she had studied the looks and character of 
the paleface beauty, until, meeting with nothing to repel her 
own feelings, but everything to encourage them, she had got to 
entertain an admiration and love for her, which, thought cer- 
tainly very different, was scarcely less strong than that of her 
husband. Arrowhead himself had sent her to warn Mabel of 
the coming danger, though he was ignorant that she had stolen 
upon the island in the rear of the assailants, and was now lit 


THE PATHFINDER. 


313 

trenched in the citadel along with the object of their joint care. 
On the contrary, he supposed, as his wife had said, that Cap 
and Muir were in the block-house with Mabel, and that the at- 
tempt to repel him and his companions had been made by the 
men. 

“ June sorry ‘ the Lily,’ ” for so the Indian in her poetical 
language, had named our heroine — “ June sorry the Lily no 
marry Arrowhead. His wigwam big, and a great chief must 
get enough wives to fill it.” 

“ I thank you, June, for this preference, which is not ac- 
cording to the notions of us white women,” returned Mabel, 
smiling in spite of the fearful situation in which she was placed ; 
“ but I may not, probably never shall, marry at all.” 

“ Must have good husband,” said June, “ marry Eau-douce, 
if don’t like Arrowhead.” 

“ June ! this is not a fit subject for a girl who scarce knows 
if she is to live another hour or not. I would obtain some signs 
of my dear uncle’s being alive and safe, if possible.” 

“ June go see.” 

Can you ? — will you ? — would it be safe for you to be seen 
on the island ? — is your presence known to the warriors ? — and 
would they be pleased to find a woman on the war-path with 
them } ” 

All this Mabel asked in rapid connection, fearing that the 
answer might not be as she wished. She had thought it ex- 
traordinary that June should be of the party, and, improbable 
as it seemed, she had fancied that the woman had covertly fol- 
lowed the Iroquois in her own canoe, and had got in their ad- 
vance, merely to give her the notice which had probably saved 
her life. But in all this she was mistaken, as June, in her im- 
perfect manner, now found means to let her know. 

Arrowhead, though a chief, was in disgrace wifh his own 
people, and was acting with the Iroquois temporarUy, though 
with a perfect understanding. He had a wigwam, it is true, 
but was seldom in it ; feigning friendship for the English, he 
had passed the summer ostensibly in their service, while he 
was, in truth, acting for the French, and his wife journeyed 
with him in his many migrations, most of the distances being 
passed over in canoes. In a word, her presence was no secret, 
her husband seldom moving without her. Enough of this to 
embolden Mabel to wish that her friend might go out, to ascer- 
tain the fate of her uncle, did June succeed in letting the other 
know ; and it was soon settled between them, that the Indian 


THE PATHFINDER. 


314 

woman should quit the block-house with that, object the mo« 
ment a favorable opportunity offered. 

They first examined the island, as thoroughly as their posi- 
tion would allow, from the different loops, and found that its 
conquerors were preparing for a feast, and having seized upon 
the provisions of the English, and rifled the huts. Most of the 
stores were in the blockhouse, but enough were found outside 
to reward the Indians for an attack attended by so little risk. 
A party had already removed the dead bodies, and Mabel saw 
that their arms were collected in a pile, near the spot chosen for 
the banquet. June suggested that, by some signs she under- 
stood, the dead themselves were carried into a thicket, and 
either buried or coi>cealed from view. None of the more prom- 
inent objects on the island, however, were disturbed, it being 
the desire of the conquerors to lure the party of the sergeant 
into an ambush on its return. June made her companion 
observe a man in a tree, a lookout, as she said, to give timely 
notice of the approach of any boat, although the departure of 
the expedition being so recent, nothing but some expected. event 
would be likely to bring it back so soon. There did not appear 
to be any design to attack the block-house immediately ; but 
every indication, as understood by June, rather showed that it 
was the intention of the Indians to keep it beseiged until the re- 
turn of the sergeant’s party, lest the signs of an assault should 
give a warning to eyes as practised as those of the Pathfinder. 
The boat, however, had been secured, and was reratoved to the 
spot where the canoes of the Indians were hid in the bushes. 

June now announced her intention of joining her friends, 
the moment being particularly favorable for her to quit the 
block-house. Mabel felt some distrust as they descended the 
ladder; but, at the next instant, she was ashamed of the feel- 
ing as unjust to her companion, and unworthy of herself ; and, 
by the time they both stood on the ground, her confidence was 
restored. The process of unbarring the door was conducted 
with the utmost caution ; and, when the last bar was ready to 
be turned, June took her station near the spot where the open- 
ing must necessarily be. The bar was just turned free of the 
brackets — the door was opened merely wide enough to allow 
her body to pass, and June glided through the space. Mabel 
closed the door again, with a conclusive movement ; and as the 
bar turned into its place, her heart beat audibly.- She then felt 
secure ; and the two other bars were turned down in a more 
deliberate manner. When all was fast again, she ascended to 


THE PATHFINDER. 


315 

the first floor, where alone she could get a glimpse of what was 
going on without. 

Long and painfully melancholy hours passed, during which 
Mabel had no intelligence from June. She heard the yells of 
the savages ; for liquor had carried them beyond the bounds of 
precaution ; occasionally caught glimpse of their mad orgies 
through the loops, and, at all times, was conscious of their fear- 
ful presence by sounds and sights that would have chilled the 
blood of one who had not so lately witnessed scenes so much more 
terrible. Towards the middle of the day she fancied she saw a 
white man on the island, though his dress and wild appearance 
at first made her take him for a newly -arrived savage. A view 
of his face, although it was swarthy naturally, and much dark- 
ened by exposure, left no doubt that her conjecture was true ; 
and she felt as if there was now one of a species more like her 
own present, and one to whom she might appeal for succor in the 
last energency. Mabel little knew, alas ! how small was the 
influence exercised by the whites over their savage allies when 
the later had begun to taste of blood ; or how slight, indeed, 
was the disposition to divert them from their cruelties. 

The day seemed a month by Mabel’s computation ; and the 
only part of it that did not drag were the minutes spent in 
prayer. She had recourse to this relief from time to time ; 
and at each effort she found her spirit firmer, her mind more 
tranquil, and her tendency to resignation more confirmed. She 
understood the reasoning of June, and believed it highly prob- 
able that the block-house would be left unmolested until the 
return of her father, in order to entice him into an ambuscade ; 
and she felt much less apprehension of immediate danger in 
consequence. But the future offered little ground of hope ; 
and her thoughts had already begun to calculate the chances 
of her captivity. At such moments. Arrowhead, and his offen- 
sive admiration, filled a prominent place in the background ; 
for our heroine well knew that the Indians usually carried off 
to their villages, for the purposes of adoption, such captives as 
they did not slay ; and that many instances had occurred in 
which individuals of her sex had passed the remainder of their 
lives in the wigwams of their conquerors. Such thoughts as 
these invariably drove her to her knees, and to her prayers. 

While the light lasted, the situation of our heroine was 
sufficiently alarming ; but, as the shades of evening gradually 
gathered over the island, it became fearfully appalling. By 
this time the savages had wrought themselves up to the point 
of furv, for they had possessed themselves of all the liquor of 


THE PATHFINDER. 


316 

the English, and their outcries and gesticulations were those 
of men truly possessed of evil spirits. All the efforts of their 
French leader to restrain them were entirely fruitless, and he 
had wisely withdrawn to an adjacent island, where he had a sort 
of bivouac, that he might keep at a safe distance from friends 
so apt to run into excesses. Before quitting the spot, however, 
this officer, at great risk to his own life, succeeded in extinguish ^ 
ing the fire, and in securing the ordinary means to relight it. 
This precaution he took, lest the Indians should burn the block- 
house, the preservation of which was necessary to the success 
of his future plans. He would gladly have removed all the 
arms also, but this he found impracticable, the warriors cling- 
ing to their knives and tomahawks with the tenacity of men who 
regarded a point of honor as long as a faculty was left ; and 
to carry off the rifles, and leave behind him the very weapons 
that were generally used on such occasions, would have been 
an idle expedient. The extinguishing of the fire proved to be 
the most prudent measure, for no sooner was the officer’s back 
turned than one of the warriors, in fact, proposed to fire the 
block-house. Arrowhead had also withdrawn from the group of 
drunkards as soon as he found that they were losing their senses, 
and had taken possession of a hut, where he had thrown him- 
self on the straw, and sought the rest that two wakeful and 
watchful nights rendered necessary. It followed that no one 
was left among the Indians to care for Mabel if indeed any 
knew of her existence at all ; and the proposal of the drunkard 
was received with yells of delight by eight or ten more as much 
intoxicated and habitually as brutal as himself. 

This was the fearful moment for Mabel. The Indians, in 
their present condition, were reckless of any rifles that the 
block-house might hold ; though they did retain dim recollec- 
tions of its containing living beings, an additional incentive to 
their enterprise, and they approached its base whooping and 
leaping like demons. As yet they were excited, not overcome 
by the liquor they had drunk. The first attempt was made at 
the door, against which they ran in a body; but the solid 
structure, which was built entirely of logs, defied their efforts. 
The rush of a hundred men, with the same object, would have 
been useless. This Mabel, however, did not know, and her 
heart seemed to leap into her mouth as she heard the heavy 
shock at each renewed effort. At length, when she found that 
the door resisted these assaults as if it were of stone, neither 
trembling nor yielding, and only betraying its not being a part 
ot the wall by rattling a little on its heavy hinges, her courage 


THE PATHFINDER, 


317 

revived, and she seized the first moment of a cessation to look 
down through the loop, in order, if possible to learn the extent 
of her danger. A silence, for which it was not easy to account, 
stimulated her curiosity, for nothing is so alarming to those 
who are conscious of the presence of imminent danger, as to be 
unable to trace its approach. 

Mabel found that two or three of the Iroquois had been 
raking the embers, where they had found a few small coals, and 
with these they were endeavoring to light a fire. The interest 
with which they labored, the hope of destroying, and the force 
of habit, enabled them to act intelligently and in unison, so 
long as their fell object was kept in view. A white man would 
have abandoned in despair the attempt to light a fire with coals 
that came out of the ashes resembling sparks ; but these chil- 
dren of the forests had many expedients that were unknown to 
civilization. By the aid of a few dry leaves, which they alone 
knew where to seek, a blaze was finally kindled, and then the 
addition of a few light sticks made sure of the advantage that 
had been obtained. When Mabel stooped down over the loop, 
the Indians were making a pile of brush against the door, and 
as she remained gazing* at their preceedings, she saw the twigs 
ignite, the flame dart from branch to branch, until the whole 
pile was crackling and snapping under a bright blaze. The 
Indians now gave a yell of triumph, and returned to their com- 
panions, well assured that the work of destruction was com- 
menced. Mabel remained looking down, scarcely able to tear 
herself away from the spot, so intense and engrossing was the 
interest she felt in the progress of the fire. As the pile kindled 
throughout, however, the flames mounted, until they flashed so 
near her eyes as to compel her to retreat. Just as she reached 
the opposite side of the room, to which she had retired in her 
alarm, a forked stream shot up through the loop-fiole, the lid 
of which she had left open, and illuminated the rude apartment 
wath Mabel and her desolation. Our heroine now naturally 
enough supposed that her hour was come, for the door, the 
only means of retreat, had been blocked up by the brush and 
fire, with hellish ingenuity, and she addressed herself, as she 
believed for the last time, to her Maker in prayer. Her eyes 
were closed, and for more than a minute, her spirit was abstrac- 
ted ; but the interests of the world too strongly divided her 
feelings to be altogether suppressed ; and when they .involun- 
tarily opened again, she perceived that the streak of flame w^as 
no longer flaring in the room, though the wood around the 
little aperture had kindled, and the blaze was slowly mounting 


THE PATHFINDER, 


318 

under the impulsion of a current of air that sucked inward. A 
barrel of water stood in a corner, and Mabel, acting more by 
instinct than by reason, caught up a vessel, filled it, and, pour- 
ing it on the wood with a trembling hand, succeeded in extinguish- 
ing the fire at that particular spot. The smoke prevented her 
from looking down again for a couple of minutes ; but, when 
she did, her heart beat high with delight and hope at finding 
that the pile of blazing brush had been overturned and scat- 
tered, and that water had been thrown on the logs of the door, 
which were still smoking, though no longer burning. 

Who is there ? ” said Mabel, wdth her mouth at the loop. 
“ What friendly hand has a merciful Providence sent to my 
succor ? ” 

A light footstep was audible below, and one of those gentle 
pushes at the door was heard, which just moved the massive 
beams on the hinges. 

Who wishes to enter ? Is it you, dear, dear, uncle } ” 

“ Salt-water no here. St. Lawrence sweet water,” was the 
answer. “ Open quick — want to come in.” 

The step of Mabel was never lighter, or her movements 
more quick and natural, then while she was descending the 
ladder and turning the bars, for all her motions were earnest 
and active. This time she thought only of her escape, and she 
opened the door with a rapidity that did not admit of caution. 
Her first impulse was to rush into the open air, in the blind 
hope of quitting the block-house, but June repulsed the attempt, 
and, entering, she coolly barred the door again before she 
would notice Mabel’s eager efforts to embrace her. 

“Bless you — bless you, June,” cried our heroine, most 
fervently — “ you are sent by Providence to be my guardian 
angel ! ” 

“ No hug so tight ” — answered the Tuscarora woman. “ Pale- 
face women all cry or all laugh. Let June fasten door.” 

Mabel became more rational, and in a few minutes the two 
were again in the upper room, seated as before, hand in hand, 
all feeling of distrust or rivalry between them being banished 
on the one side by the consciousness of favors received, and on 
the other by the consciousness of favors conferred. 

“ Now tell me, June,” Mabel commenced, as soon as she 
had given and received one warm embrace, “have you seen or 
heard aught of my poor uncle ? ” 

“ Don’t know. No one see him ; no one hear him ; no one 
know anyt’ing. Salt-water run into river, I t’ink, for I no find 


THE PATHFINDER. 


319 

him. Quartermaster gone too. I look, and look, and look, but 
no see ’em one, t’other, no where.” 

Blessed be God ! They must have escaped, though the 
means are not known to us. I thought I saw a Frenchman on 
the island, June ” 

“ Yes — French captain come, but he go away, too. Plenty 
of Injin on island.” 

“Oh ! June, June, are there no means to prevent my be- 
loved father from falling into the hands of his enemies ? ” 

“ Don’t know, t’ink dat warriors wait in ambush, and Yen* 
geese must lose scalp.” 

“Surely, surely, June, you who have done so much for the 
daughter, will not refuse to help the father ? ” 

“ Don’t know fader — don’t love fader. June help her own 
people, help Arrowhead — husband love scalp.” 

“June, this is not yourself I I cannot, will not, believe that 
you wish to see our men murdered ! ” 

June turned her dark eyes quietly on Mabel, and, for a mo- 
ment, her look was stern, though it soon changed into one of 
melancholy compassion. 

“ Lily, Yengeese gal ? ” she said, as one asks a question. 

“ Certainly, and as a Yengeese girl, I would save my coun- 
trymen from slaughter.” 

“Very good — if can. June no Yengeese ; June Tuscarora 
— got Tuscarora husband — Tuscarora heart — Tuscarora feeling 
— all over Tuscarora. Lily wouldn’t run and tell French dat 
her fader was coming to gain victory ? ” 

“ Perhaps not,” returned Mabel, pressing a hand on a brain 
that felt bewildered — “ perhaps not ; but you serve me, aid me, 
have saved me, June ! Why have you done this, if you only 
feel as a Tuscarora?” 

“ Don’t only feel as Tuscarora — feel as a gal — feel as squaw. 
Love pretty Lily, and put it in my bosom.” 

Mabel melted into tears, and she pressed the affectionate 
creature to her heart. It was near a minute before she could 
renew the discourse, but then she succeeded in speaking more 
calmly and with greater coherence. 

“Let me know the worst, June,” she said. “To-night your 
people are feasting ; what do they intend to do to-morrow ? ” 

“ Don’t know — afraid to see Arrowhead — afraid to ask 
questions — t’ink hide away, till Yengeese come back.” 

“ Will they not attempt anything against the block-house ? 
You have seen what they can threaten if they will ? ” 


320 


THE PATHFINDER. 


“ Too much rum. Arrowhead sleep, or no dare ; Frencl^ 
captain gone away, or no dare. All go to sleep, now.” 

“ And you think I am safe for this night, at least ? ” 

“ Too much rum. If Lily like June, might do much for he! 
people.” 

“ I am like you, June, if a wish to serve my countrymen 
can make a resemblance with one as courageous as yourself.” 

No — no — no,” muttered June, in a low voice; “no got 
heart, and June no let you, if had. June’s moder prisoner once, 
and warriors got drunk ; moder tomahawked em all. Such the 
way redskin women do, when people in danger and want scalp.” 

“ You say what is true,” returned Mabel, shuddering, and 
unconsciously dropping June’s hand. “ I cannot do that. I 
have neither the strength, the courage, nor the will, to dip my 
hands in blood.” 

“ T’ink that too ; then stay where you be — block-house good 
— got no scalp.” 

“ You believe, then, that I am safe here, at least until my 
father and his people return ? ” 

“ Know so. No dare touch block-house in morning. Hark ! 
all still now — drink rum till head fall down, and sleep like log.” 

- “ Might I not escape ? Are there not several canoes on the 
island ? might I not get one, and go and give my father notice 
of what has happened ? ” 

“ Know how to paddle ? ” demanded June, glancing her eye 
furtively at her companion. 

“ Not so well as yourself, perhaps ; but enough to get out 
of sight befoTe morning.” 

“ What do then ? — couldn’t paddle six — ten — eight mile ! ” 

“I do not know ; I would do much to warn my father, and 
the excellent Pathfinder, and all the rest, of the danger they are 
in.” 

“ Like Pathfinder ? ” 

“ All like him who know him — you would like him, nay love 
him, if you only knew his heart ? ” 

“ No like him at all. Too good rifle — too good eye — too 
much shoot Iroquois, and June’s people. Must get his scalp 
if can.” 

“ And I must save it if I can, June. In this respect, then, 
we are opposed to each other. I will go and find a canoe the 
instant they are all asleep, and quit the island.” 

“ No can — June won’t let you. Call Arrowhead.” 

“ June ! you could not betray me — you would not give me 
up, after all you have done for me ? ” 


THE PA THFIND LR. 


321 


“Just so,” returned June, making a backward gesture with 
her hand, and speaking with a warmth and earnestness Mabel 
had never witnessed in her before. “ Call Arrowhead in a loud 
voice. One call from wife, wake a warrior up. June no let 
Lily help enemy — no let Injun hurt Lily.” 

“ I understand you, June, and feel the nature and justice of 
your sentiments ; and, after all, it were better that I should re- 
main here, for I have most probably overrated my strength. But 
tell me one thing ; if my uncle comes in the night and asks to be 
admitted, you will let me open the door of the block-house that 
he may enter? ” 

“ Sartain — he prisoner here, and June like prisoner better 
than scalp ; scalp good for honor, prisoner good for feeling. 
But Salt-water hide so close, he don’t know where he be him- 
self.” 

Here June laughed, in her girlish, mirthful way, for to her 
scenes of violence were too familiar to leave impressions suffi- 
ciently deep to change her natural character. A long and dis- 
cursive dialogue now followed, in which Mabel endeavored to 
obtain clearer notions of her actual situation, under a faint hope 
that she might possibly be enabled to turn some of the facts 
she thus learned to advantage. June answered all her interro- 
gatories, simply, but with a caution which showed she fully dis- 
tinguished between that which was immaterial, and that which 
might endanger the safety or embarrass the future operations 
of her friends. Our heroine was incapable of making an at- 
tempt to entrap her companion, though she plainly perceived 
that, could she have been guilty of the meanness, she would 
have found the undertaking one of extreme difficulty. June, 
however, was not required to exercise more than a discreet dis- 
crimination about what she revealed ; and the substance of the 
information she gave, may be summed up as follows : 

Arrowhead had long been in communication with the French, 
though this was the first occasion on which he had ever entirely 
thrown aside the mask. He no longer intended to trust him- 
self among the English, for he had discovered traces of distrust, 
particularly in Pathfinder ; and, with Indian bravado, he now 
rather wished to blazon than to conceal his treachery. Pie had 
led the party of warriors in the attack on the island, subject, 
however, to the supervision of the Frenchman who has been 
mentioned, though June declined saying whether he had been 
the means of discovering the position of a place that had been 
thought to be s© concealed from the eyes of the enemy, or not. 
On this poxnt she would say nothing ; but she admitted that sha 


THE PATHFINDER, 


322 

and her husband had been watching the departure of the Scud, 
at the time they were overtaken and captured by the cutter. 
The French had obtained their information of the precise posi- 
tion of the station but very recently ; and Mabel felt a pang 
like that of some sharp instrument piercing her heart, when she 
thought that there were covert allusions of the Indian woman, 
which would convey the meaning that the intelligence had come 
from a paleface, in the employment of Duncan of Lundie. 
This was intimated, however, rather than said; and when 
Mabel had time to reflect on her companion’s words, and to 
remember how sententious and brief her periods were, she 
found room to hope that she had misunderstood her, and that 
Jasper Western would yet come out of the affair, freed from 
every injurious imputation. 

June did not hesitate to confess that she had been sent to 
the island to ascertain the precise number, and the occupations 
of those who had been left on it ; though she also betrayed, in 
her 7iaive way, that the wish to serve Mabel had induced her 
principally to consent to come. In consequence of her report, 
and information otherwise obtained, the enemy was aware of 
precisely the force that could be brought against them ; they 
also knew , the number of men that had gone with Sergeant 
Dunham, and were acquainted with the object he had in view, 
though they were ignorant of the spot where he expected to 
meet the French boats. It would have been a pleasant sight 
to witness the eager desire of each of these two sincere females 
to ascertain all that might be of consequence to their respective 
friends, and yet the native delicacy with which each refrained 
from pressing the other to make revelations that would have 
been improper, as well as the sensitive, almost intuitive feel- 
ing, with which each avoided saying aught that might prove in- 
jurious to her own. nation : as respects each other, there was 
perfect confidence ; as regarded their respective people, entire 
fidelity. June was quite as anxious as Mabel could be on any 
other point, to know where the sergeant had gone, and when 
he was expected to return ; but she abstained from putting the 
question, with the delicacy that would have done honor to the 
highest civilization ; nor did she once frame any other inquiry, 
in a way to lead, indirectly, to a betrayal of the much desired 
information, on that particular point ; though when Mabel, of 
her own accord, touched on any matter that might, by possi- 
bility, throw a light on the subject, she listened with an intent- 
ness that almost suspended inspiration. 

In this manner the hours passed away unheeded, for both 


THE PA THFINDER, 


323 


were too much interested to think of rest. Nature asserted 
her, rights, however, toward morning; and Mabel was per- 
suaded to lie down on one of the straw beds provided for the 
soldiers, where she soon fell into a deep sleep. June lay near 
her ; and a quiet reigned on the whole island, as profound as if 
the dominion of the forest had never been invaded by man. 

When Mabel awoke, the light of the sun was streaming in 
through the loop-holes ; and she found that the day was con- 
siderably advanced. June still lay near her, sleeping as tran- 
quilly as if she reposed on — we will not say down, for the 
superior civilization of our times repudiates the simile — but on 
a French mattress ; and as profoundly as if she had never ex- 
perienced concern. The movements of Mabel, notwithstand- 
ing, soon awakened one so accustomed to vigilance ; and then 
the two took a survey of what was passing around them, by 
means of the friendly apertures. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 


What had the Eternall Maker need of tnee. 

The world in his continuall course to keepe. 

That doest all things deface ? ne lettest see 
That beautie of his worke ? Indeede in sleepe 
The slouthfull body that doth love to steepe 
His lustlesse limbs, and drowne his baser mind, 

Doth praise thee oft, and oft from Stygian deepe, 

Calles thee his goddesse, in his errour blind, 

And great dame Nature’s hand-maid, chearing every kind.” 

—Faerie Qtmsw. 

The tranquillity of the previous night was not contradicted 
by the movements of the day. Although Mabel and June went 
to every loophole, not a sign of the presence of a living being 
on the island was at first to be seen, themselves excepted. 
There was a smothered fire on the spot where McNab and his 
comrades had cooked, as if the smoke that curled upward from 
it was intended as a lure to the absent ; and d.11 around the 
huts had been restored to former order and arrangement. 
Mabel started involuntarily, when her eye at length fell on a 
group of three men, dressed in the scarlet of the 55th, seated 
on the grass, in lounging attitudes, as if they chatted in listless 
security ; and her blood curdled, as, on a second look, she 
traced the bloodless faces and glassy eyes of the dead. 
They were quite near the block-house ; so near, indeed, as to 


THE PATHFINDER. 


324 

have been overlooked at the first eager inquiry : and there was 
a mocking levity in their postures and gestures, for theit 
limbs were stiffening in different attitudes, intending to resem- 
ble life, at which she revolted. Still, horrible as these objects 
were to those near enough to discover the frightful discrepancy 
between their assumed and their real characters, the arrange- 
ment had been made with an art that would have deceived a 
negligent observer at the distance of a hundred yards. After 
carefully examining the shores of the island, June pointed out 
to her companion the fourth soldier, seated with his feet hang- 
ing over the water, his back fastened to the sapling, and hold- 
ing a fishing-rod in his hand. The scalpless heads were cov- 
ered with the caps, and all appearence of blood had been care- 
fully washed from each countenance. 

Mabel sickened at this sight, which not only did so much 
violence to all her notions of propriety, but which was in itself 
so revolting, and so opposed to natural feeling. She withdrew 
to a seat, and hid her face in her apron for several minutes, 
until a low call from June again drew her to her loophole. 
The latter then pointed out the body of Jennie, seemingly 
standing in the door of a hut, leaning forward as if to look at 
the group of men, her cap fluttering in the wind, and her hand 
grasping a broom. The distance was too great to distinguish 
the features very accurately; but Mabel fancied that the jaw 
had been depressed, as if to distort the mouth into a sort of 
horrible laugh. 

“June! June !” she exclaimed, “ this exceeds all I have 
ever heard or imagined as possible, in the treachery and arti- 
fices of your people.” 

“Tuscarora very cunning,” said June, in a way to show that 
she rather approved of than condemned the uses to which the 
dead bodies had been applied. Do soldier no harm now ; do 
Iroquois good ; got the scalp, first ; now make bodies work. 
By and by, burn ’em.” 

This speech told Mabel how far she was separated from her 
friend in character ; and it was several minutes before she could 
again address her. But this temporary aversion w^as lost on 
June, who set about preparing their simple breakfast, in a way 
to show how insensible she was to feelings in others, that her 
own habits taught her to discard. Mabel ate sparingly, and 
her companion as if nothing had happened. Then they had 
leisure again for their thoughts, and for further surveys of the 
island. Our heroine, though devoured with a feverish desire 
to be always at the loops, seldom went that she did not imrne* 


THE PATHFINDER. 


325 

diately quit them in disgust, though compelled by her appre- 
hensions to return again in a few minutes, called by the rustling 
of leaves or the sighing of the wind. It was, indeed, a solemn 
thing to look out upon that deserted spot, peopled by the dead 
in the panoply of the living, and thrown into the attitudes and 
acts of careless merriment and rude enjoyment. The effect on 
our heroine was much as if she had found herself an observer 
of the revelries of demons. 

Throughout the livelong day not an Indian nor a Frenchman 
was to be seen, and night closed over the frightful but silent 
masquerade with the steady and unalterable progress with 
which earth obeys her laws, indifferent to the petty actors and 
petty scenes that are in daily bustle and daily occurrence on 
her bosom. The night was far more quiet than that which had 
preceded it, and Mabel slept with an increasing confidence, 
for she now felt satisfied that her own fate would not be decided 
until the return of her father. The following day he was ex- 
pected, however, and, when our heroine awoke, she ran eagerly 
to the loops in order to ascertain the state of the weather and 
the aspect of the skies, as well as the condition of the island. 
There lounged the fearful group on the grass ; the fisherman 
still hung over the water, seemingly intent on his sport ; and 
the distorted countenance of Jennie glared from out the hut in 
horrible contortions. But the weather had changed. The 
wind blew fresh from the southward, and, though the air was 
bland, it was filled with the elements of storm. 

“ This grows more and more difficult to bear, June,” Mabel 
said, when she left the wdndow. “ I could even prefer to see 
the enemy than to look any longer on this fearful array of the 
dead.” 

“ Hush ! — here they come. June thought hear a cry, like a 
warrior’s shout'when he take a scalp.” 

“ What mean you } There is no more butchery ? There 

be no more.” 

“ Salt-water ! ” exclaimed June, laughing, as she stood 
peeping through a loop-hole. 

“ My dear uncle ! Thank God, he then lives. Oh ! June 
^June, you will not let them harm him ? ” 

“ June poor squaw. What warrior t’ink of what she say ? 
Arrowhead bring him here.” 

By this time Mabel was at a loop, and sure enough, there were 
Cap and the quartermaster in the hands of the Indians, eight 
or ten of whom were conducting them to the foot of the block ; 
for by this capture the enemy now well knew that there could 


THE PATHFINDER, 


326 

be no man in the building. Mabel scarcely breathed until the 
whole party stood ranged directly before the door, when she 
was rejoiced to see that the French officer was among them. 
A low conversation followed, in which both the white leader 
and Arrowhead spoke earnestly to their captives, when the 
quartermaster called out to her in a voice loud enough to be 
heard, — 

“ Pretty Mabel ! — pretty Mabel ! ” he said — “ look out of 
one of the loop-holes, and pity our condition. We are threat- 
ened with instant death, unless you open the door to the con- 
querors. Relent, then, or we’ll no be wearing our scalps half 
an hour from this blessed moment 1 ” 

Mabel thought there were mockery and levity in this appeal, 
and its manner rather fortified than weakened her resolution to 
hold the place as long as possible. 

“ Speak to me, uncle,” she said, wdth her mouth at a loop, 
“ and tell me what I ought to do ! ” 

“ Thank God ! thank God ! ” ejaculated Cap ; “ the sound 
of your sweet voice. Magnet, lightens my heart of a heavy load, 
for I feared you had shared the fate of poor Jennie. My breast 
has felt the last four-and-twenty hours as if a ton of kentledge 
had been stowed in it. You ask me what you ought to do, 
child, and I do not know how to advise you, though you are my 
own sister’s daughter ! The most I can say just' now, my poor 
girl, is most heartily to curse the day you or I ever saw this bit 
of fresh water.” 

“ But, uncle, is your life in danger — do you think I ought 
to open the door } ” 

“Around turn and two half-hitches makes a fast belay; 
and I would counsel no one who is out of the hands of these 
devils, to unbar or unfasten anything, in order to fall into them. 
As to the quartermaster and myself, we are both elderly men, 
and not of much account to mankind in general, as honest 
Pathfinder would say ; and it can make no great odds to him 
whether he balances the purser’s books this year or the next ; 
and as for myself, why, if I were on the seaboard I should 
know what to do — but up here in this watery wilderness, I can 
only say that, if I were behind that bit of a bulwark, it would 
take a good deal of Indian logic to rouse me out of it.” 

“You’ll no be minding all your uncle says, pretty Mabel,” 
put in Muir, “ for distress is obviously fast unsettling his facul- 
ties, and he is far from calculating all the necessities of the 
emergency. We are in the hands here of very considerate and 
gentlemanly pairsons, it must be acknowledged, and one has 


THE PATHFINDER. 


327 

little occasion to apprehend any disagreeable violence. The 
casualties that have occurred are the common incidents of war, 
and can no change our sentiments of the enemy, for they are 

fell. Ii-otvi it»clio<xti.ngf ot^y ^njnct-irA win Ka rl nn f pvi 

I am sure that neither Master Cap nor myself has any cause 
of complaint since we have given ourselves up to Master Arrow- 
head, who reminds me of a Roman, or a Spartan, by his virtues 
and moderation, but ye’ll be remembering that usages differ, 
and that our scalps may be lawful sacrifices to appease the 
manes of fallen foes, unless you save them by capitulation.” 

“ I shall do wiser to keep within the block-house until the 
fate of the island is settled,” returned Mabel. “Our enemies 
can feel no concern on account of one like me, knowing that I 
can do them no harm ; and I greatly prefer to remain here, as 
more befitting my sex and years.” 

“ If nothing but your convenience were concerned, Mabel, 
we should all cheerfully acquiesce in your wishes ; but these 
gentlemen fancy that the work will aid their operations, and 
they have a strong desire to possess it. To be frank with you, 
finding myself and your uncle in a very peculiar situation, I 
acknowledge that, to avert consequences, I have assumed the 
power that belongs to his majesty’s commission, and entered 
into a verbal capitulation, by which I have engaged to give up 
the block-house and the whole island. It is the fortune of war, 
and must be submitted to ; so open the door, pretty Mabel, 
forthwith, and confide yourself to the care of those who know 
how to treat beauty and virtue in distress. There is no courtier 
in Scotland more complaisant than this chief, or who is more 
familiar with the laws of decorum.” 

“ No leave block-house,” muttered June, who stood at Mabel’s 
side, attentive to all that passed. “ Block-house good ; got no 
scalp.” 

Our heroine might have yielded, but for this appeal ; for it 
began to appear to her, that the wisest course would be to con- 
ciliate the enemy by concessions, instead of exasperating them 
by resistance. They must know that Muir and her uncle were 
in their power ; that there was no man in the building ; and she 
fancied they might proceed to batter down the door, or to cut 
their way through the logs with axes, if she obstinately refused 
to give them peaceable admission, since there was no longer any 
reason to dread the rifle. But the words of June induced her 
to hesitate ; and the earnest pressure of the hand, and entreat- 
ing looks of her companion, strengthened a resolution that wai 
faltering. 


THE PA THFINDER. 


328 

“ No prisoner yet,” whispered June — “ let ’em make prisoncf 
before ’ey take prisoner — talk big ; June manage ’em.” 

Mabel now began to parley more resolutely with Muir, for 
hf^r nnrle seemed disoosed to auiet his eonscienre y^y hnlrling 
his tongue ; and she plainly intimated that it was not her inten- 
tion to yield the building. 

“You forget the capitulation. Mistress Mabel,” said Muir; 
“ the honor of one of his majesty’s servants is concerned ; and 
the honor of his majesty through his servant. You will remem 
ber the finesse and delicacy that belong to military honor ? ” 

“ I know enough, Mr. Muir, to understand that you have no 
command in this expedition, and, therefore, can have no right 
to yield the block-house ; and I remember, moreover, to have 
heard my father say, that a prisoner loses all authority, for the 
time being.” 

“ Rank sophistry, pretty Mabel, and treason to the king, as 
well as dishonoring his commission, and discrediting his name. 
You’ll no be persevering in your intentions, when your better 
judgment has had leisure to reflect, and to make conclusions 
on matters and circumstances.” 

“ Ay,” put in Cap, “ this is a circumstance, and be d d 

to it.” 

“No mind what ’e uncle say,” ejaculated June, who was 
occupied in a far corner of the room. “ Block-house good ; got 
no scalp.” 

“ I shall remain as I am, Mr. Muir, until I get some tidings 
of my father. He will return in the course of the next ten 
days.” 

“ Ah ! Mabel, this artifice will no deceive the enemy, who, 
by means that would be unintelligible, did not our suspicions 
rest on an unhappy young man with too much plausibility, are 
familiar with all our doings and plans, and well know that the 
sun will not set before the worthy sergeant and his companions 
will be in their power. Aweel ! Submission to Providence is 
truly a Christian virtue ! ” 

“ Mr. Muir, you appear to be deceived in the strength of 
this work, and to fancy it weaker than it is. Do you desire to 
see what I can do in the way of defence, if so disposed ? ” 

“ I dinna’ mind if I do,” answered the quartermaster, who 
always grew Scotch as he grew interested. 

“ What do you think of that, then ? Look at the loop of the 
upper story.” 

As soon as Mabel had spoken, all eyes were turned 
upward and beheld the muzzle of a rifle cautiously thrus/ 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


329 

through a hole— June having resorted again to a ruse that had 
already picved so successful. The result did not disappoint 
expectation. No sooner did the Indians catch a sight of the 
fatal weapon, than they leaped aside, and in less than a minute 
every man among them had sought a cover. The French offi- 
cer kept his eye on the barrel of the piece, in order to ascer- 
tain that it was not pointed in his particular direction, and coolly 
took a pinch of snuff. As neither Muir nor Cap had anything 
to apprehend from the quarter in which the others were menaced 
they kept their ground. 

“ Be wise, my pretty Mabel, be wise,” exclaimed the former, 
“ and no be provoking useless contention. In the name of all 
the kings of Albin, whom have ye closeted with you in th^t 
wooden tower, that seemeth so bloody minded .? There is nec- 
romacy about this matter, and all our characters may be involved 
in the explanation.” 

“ What do you think of the Pathfinder, Master Muir, for a 
garrison to so strong a post ? ” cried Mabel, resorting to an 
equivocation that the circumstances rendered very excusable. 
“What will your French and Indian companions think of the 
aim of the Pathfinder’s rifle ? ” 

“Bear gently on the unfortunate, pretty Mabel, and do not 
confound the king’s servants, may Heaven bless him and all 
his royal lineage, with the king’s enemies. If Pathfinder be in- 
deed in the block-house, let him speak, and we will hold our nego- 
tiations directly with him. He knows us as friends, and we fear 
no evil at his hands, and least of all to myself ; for a generous 
mind is apt to render rivalry in a certain interest a sure ground 
of respect and amity ; since admiration of the same woman 
proves a community of feeling and tastes.” 

The reliance on Pathfinders friendship did not extend 
beyond the quartermaster and Cap, however, for even the French 
officer, who had hitherto stood his ground so well, shrank back 
at the sound of the terrible name. So unwilling, indeed, did 
this individual, a man of iron nerves, and one long accustomed 
to the dangers of the peculiar warfare in which he was engaged, 
appear to be to remain exposed to the assaults of Killdeer, whose 
reputation throughout all that frontier was as well established 
as that of Marlborough in Europe, that he did not disdain to 
seek a cover, insisting that his two prisoners should follow him. 
Mabel was too glad to be rid of her enemies to lament the de- 
parture of her friends, though she kissed her hand to^ Cap, 
through the loop, and called out to him in terms of affection as 
he moved slowly and unwillingly away. 


THE PATHFINDER, 


^ 3 ^ 

The enemy now seemed disposed to abandon all attempts 
on the block-house for the present ; and June, who had ascended 
to a trap in the roof, whence the best view was to be obtained, 
reported that the whole party had assembled to eat, on a dis- 
tant and sheltered part of the island, where Muir and Cap were 
quietly sharing in the good things that were going, as if they 
had no concern on their minds. The information greatly re- 
lieved Mabel, and she began to turn her thoughts again to the 
means of effecting her own escape, or at least of letting her 
father know of the danger that awaited him. The sergeant 
w^as expected to return that afternoon, and she knew that a 
moment gained or lost might decide his fate. 

Three or four hours flew by. The island was again buried 
in a profound quiet, the day w^as wearing away, and yet Mabel 
had decided on nothing. June was in the basement preparing 
their frugal meal, and Mabel herself had ascended to the roof, 
which was provided with a trap that allowed her to go out on 
the top of the building, whence she commanded the best view 
of surrounding objects that the island possessed. Still it was 
limited, and much obstructed by the tops of trees. The anxious 
girl did not dare to thrust her person in sight, knowing well 
that the unrestrained passion of some savage might induce him 
to send a bullet through her brain. She merely kept her head 
out of the trap, therefore, whence, in the course of the afternoon, 
she made as many surveys of the different channels about the 
island as “Anne, sister Anne,” took of the environs of the castle 
of Blue Bread. 

The sun had actually set, no intelligence had been received 
from the boats, and Mabel ascended to the roof, to take a last 
look, hoping that the party would arrive in the darkness ; which 
would at least prevent the Indians from rendering their ambus- 
cade as fatal as it might otherwise prove, and which possibly 
might enable her to give some more intelligible signal by means 
of Are, than it would otherwise be in her power to do. Her 
eye had turned carefully round the whole horizon, and she was 
just on the point of drawing in her person, when an object that 
struck her as new caught her attention. The islands lay grouped 
so closely that six or eight different channels or passages between 
them were in view ; and in one of the most covered, concealed 
in a great measure by the bushes of the shore, lay, what a 
second look assured her, was a bark canoe. It contained a 
human being, beyond a question. Confident that, if an enemy, 
her signal could do no harm, and, if a friend, that it might do 
good, the eager girl waved a little flag toward the strangely 


^ "" the PATHFINDER, ^ ““ 231 

which she had prepared for her father, taking care that it should 
not be seen from the island. 

Mabel had repeated her signal eight or ten times in vain, 
and she began to despair of its being noticed, when a sign was 
given in return, by the wave of a paddle, and the man so far 
discovered himself as to let her see it was Chingachgook. Here, 
then, at last was a friend ; one, too, who was able and, she 
doubted not, would be willing to aid her ! From that instant 
her courage and her spirits revived. The Mohican had seen 
her ; must have recognized her, as he knew that she was of the 
party, and no doubt, as soon as it was sufficiently dark, he would 
take the steps necessary to release her. That he was aware of 
the presence of the enemy was apparent by the great caution 
he observed, and she*had every reliance on his prudence and 
address. The principal difficulty now existed with June, for 
Mabel had seen too much of her fidelity to her own people, re- 
lieved as it was by sympathy for herself, to believe she would 
consent to a hostile Indian’s entering the block-house, or indeed 
to her leaving it, with a view to defeat Arrowhead’s plans. The 
half hour that succeeded the discovery of the presence of the 
Great Serpent was the most painful of Mabel Dunham’s life. 
She saw the means of effecting all she wished, as it might be 
within reach 'of her hand, and yet it eluded her grasp. She 
icnew June’s decision and coolness, notwithstanding all her 
gentleness and womanly feeling, and at last she came reluctant- 
ly to the conclusion that there was no other way of attaining 
her end than by deceiving her tried companion and protector. 
It was revolting to one as sincere and natural, as pure of heart, 
and as much disposed to ingenuousness as Mabel Dunham, to 
practice deception on a friend like June ; but her own father’s 
life was at stake, her companion would receive no positive in jury, 
and she had feelings and interests directly touching herself that 
would have removed greater scruples. 

As soon as it was dark, Mabel’s heart began to beat with 
violence ; and she adopted and changed her plan of proceedings 
at least a dozen times in the course of a single hour. June was 
always the source of her greatest embarrassment ; for she did 
not well see, firstly, how she was to ascertain when Chingach- 
gook was at the door, where she doubted not he would soon 
appear ; and, secondly, how she was to admit him without giv- 
ing the alarm to her watchful companion. Time pressed, how- 
ever ; for the Mohican might come and go away again, unless she 
were ready to receive him. It would be too hazardous to the Dela- 
ware to remain long on the island ; and it became absolutely 


THE PATHFINDER. 


332 

necessary to determine on some course, even at the risk of 
choosing one that was indiscreet. After running over various 
projects in her mind, therefore, Mabel came to her companion 
and said, with as much calmness as she could assume 

“ Are you not afraid, June, now your people believe Path- 
finder is in the block-house, that they will come and try to set 
it on fire ? ” 

“ No thnk such t’ink. No burn block-house. Block-house 
good ; got no scalp.” 

“June, we cannot know. They hid because they believed 
what I told them of Pathfinder being with us.” 

“ Believe fear. Fear come quick, go quick. Fear make 
run away ; wit make come back. Fear make warrior fool, as 
well as young girl.” 

Here June laughed, as her sex is apt to laugh, when anything 
particularly ludicrous crosses their youthful fancies. 

“ I feel uneasy, June ; and wish you yourself would go up 
again to the roof and look out upon the island to make certain 
that nothing is plotting against as ; you know the signs of what 
your people intend to do better than I. ^ 

“June go, Lily wish; but very well know that Indian sleep; 
wait for fader. Warrior eat, drink, sleep, all time, when don’t 
fight, and go on war-trail. Den never sleep, eat, drink — never 
feel. Warrior sleep, now.” 

“ God send it may be so ! but go up, dear June, and look 
well about you. Danger may come when we least expect it.” 

June rose and prepared to ascend to the roof; but she 
paused, with her foot on the first round of the ladder. Mabel’s 
heart beat so violently that she was fearful its throbs would be 
heard ; and she fancied that some gleamings of her real inten- 
tions had crossed the mind of her friend. She was right, in 
part ; the Indian woman having actually stopped to consider 
whether there was any indiscretion in what she was about to do. 
At first the suspicion that Mabel intended to escape flashed 
across her mind ; then she rejected it, on the ground that the 
paleface had no means of getting off the island, and that the 
block-house was much the most secure place she could find. 
The next thought was, that Mabel had detected some sign of 
the near approach of her father. This idea, too, lasted but an 
instant; for June entertained some such opinion of her com- 
panion’s ability to understand symptoms of this sort — symptoms 
that had escaped her own sagacity — as a woman of high 
fashion entertains of the accomplishments of her maid. Noth? 


533 '' 


r ''\ : ' THE PATHFINDER, 

ing else in the same way offering, she began slowly to mount 
the ladder. 

Just as she reached the upper floor, a lucky thought sug* 
gested itself to our heroine ; and, by expressing it in a hurried, 
p but natural manner, she gained a great advantage in executing 
her projected scheme. 

i “I will go down,” she said, “ and listen by the door, June, 

i while you are on the roof ; and we will thus be on our guard, 
I at the same time, above and below.” 

jV Though June thought this savored of unnecessary caution, 

well knowing no one could enter the building unless aided 
' from within, nor any serious danger menace them from the ex- 
I terior, without giving sufficient warning, she attributed the 
proposition to Mabel’s ignorance and alarm ; and, as it was 
made apparently with frankness, it was received without dis- 
trust. By these means our heroine was enabled to descend to 
the door as her friend ascended to the roof; and June felt no 
\ unusual inducement to watch her. The distance between the two 
was now too great to admit of conversation ; and, for three or 
four minutes, one was occupied in looking about her as well as 
the darkness v/ould allow, and the other in listening at the door, 
with as much intentness as if all her senses were absorbed in 
the single faculty of hearing. 

June discovered nothing from her elevated stand — the 
obscurity, indeed, almost forbade the hope of such a result 
but it would not be easy to describe the sensation with which 
Mabel thought she perceived a slight and guarded push against 
the door. Fearful that all might not be as she wished, and 
anxious to let Chingachgook know she was near, she began, 
though in tremulous and low notes, to sing. So profound was 
the stillness at the moment, that the sound of the unsteady 
warbling ascended to the roof, and in a minute June began to 
descend. A slight tap at the door was heard immediately after. 
Mabel was bewildered, for there was no time to lose. Hope 
proved stronger than fear, and with unsteady hands she com- 
menced unbarring the door. The moccasin of June was heard 
on the floor above her, when only a single bar was turned. The 
second was released as her form reached half-way down the 
lower ladder. 

“What you do !” exclaimed June, angrily. “Run away 
—mad — leave block-house ? Block-house good.” The hands 
of both were on the last bar, and it would have been cleared 
from the fastenings but for a vigorous shove from without, 
which jammed the wood. A short struggle ensued, though 


THE PATHFINDER. 


hpth were disinclined to violence. June would probably have 
prevailed had not another and a more vigorous push from 
without forced the bar past the- trifling impediment that held 
it, when the door opened. The form of a man was seen to 
enter, and both the females rushed up the ladder, as if equally 
afraid of the consequences. The stranger secured the door, 
and, first examining the lower room with great care, he cam 
tiously ascended the ladder. June, as soon as it became dark, 
had closed the loops of the principal floor and lighted a candle. 
By means of this dim taper, then, the two females stood in ex- 
pectation, waiting to ascertain the person of their visitor, whose 
wary ascent of the ladder was distinctly audible, though suffi- 
ciently deliberate. It would not be easy to say which was the 
most astonished on finding, when the stranger had got through 
the trap, that Pathfinder stood before them. 

“ God be praised ! ” Mabel exclaimed, for the idea that the 
block-house would be impregnable with such a garrison at once 
crossed her mind. “ Oh ! Pathfinder what has become of my 
father ? ” 

“ The sergeant is safe as yet, and victorious, though it is 
not in the gift of man to say what will be the ind of it. Is not 
that the wife of Arrowhead skulking in the corner there ? ” 

Speak not of her reproachfully, Pathfinder ; I owe her my 
life — my present security — tell me what has happened to my 
father’s party, why you are here, and I will relate all the 
horrible events that have passed upon this island.” 

“ Few words will do the last, Mabel ; for one used to Indian 
deviltries needs but little explanation on such a subject. 
Everything turned out as we had hoped with the expedition, 
for the Sarpent was on the lookout, and he met us with all 
the information heart could desire. We ambushed three boats, 
druv’ the Frenchers out of them, got possession and sunk them, 
according to orders, in the deepest part of the channel ; and 
the savages of Upper Canada will fare badly for Indian goods 
this winter. Both powder and ball, too, will be scarcer among 
them than keen hunters and actyve warriors may relish. We 
do not lose a man, or have even a skin barked ; nor do I think 
the inimy suffered, to speak of. In short, Mabel, it has been 
just such an expedition as Lundie likes ; much harm to the foe^ 
and little harm to ourselves.” 

“ Ah ! Pathfinder, I fear when Major Duncan comes to hear 
the whole of the sad tale, he will find reason to regret he ever 
Tindertook the affair ! ” 

. “ I know what you mean — I know what you mean ; but by 


THE PA TH FINDER 


335 


telling my story straight you will understand it better. As soon 
as the sergeant found himself successful, he sent me and 
the Sarpent off in canoes to tell you how matters had turned 
out, and he is following with the two boats ; which, being so 
much heavier, cannot arrive before morning. I parted from 
Chingachgook this forenoon, it being agrekl that he should 
come up one set of channels, and I another, to see that the 
path was clear. I have not seen the chief since.” 

Mabel now explained the manner in which she had dis- 
covered the Mohican, and her expectation that he would yet 
come to the block-house. 

“ Not he — not he ! A regular scout will never get behind 
w^alls or logs so long as he can keep the open air and find use- 
ful employment. I should not have come myself, Mabel, but I 
promised the sergeant to comfort yon, and to look after your 
safety. Ah’s me ! I reconnoitered the island with a heavy 
heart this forenoon, and there was a bitter hour when I fancied 
you might be among the slain.” 

“ By what lucky accident were you prevented from paddling 
up boldly to the island and from falling into the hands of the 
enemy 

“ By such an accident, Mabel, as Providence employs to tell 
the hound where to find the deer, and the deer how to throw off 
the hound. No — no — these artifices and deviltries with dead 
bodies may deceive the soldiers of the 55th and the king’s officers, 
but they are all lost upon men who have passed their days in 
the forest. I came down the channel in face of the pretended 
fisherman, and, though the ryptiles have set up the poor wretch 
with art, it was not ingenious enough to take in a practysed eye. 
The rod was held too high — for the 55th have learned to fish 
at Oswego, if they never knew how before — and then the man 
was too quiet for one who got neither prey nor bite. But we 
never come in upon a post blindly ; and I have laid outside a 
garrison a whole night because they had changed their sentries 
and their mode of standing guard. Neither the Sarpent nor 
myself would be likely to be taken in by these contrivances, 
vhich were most probably intended for the Scotch, who are cun- 
ning enough in some particulars, though anything but witches 
when Indian sarcumventions are in the wind.” 

“ Do you think my father and his men may yet be deceived ?” 
said Mabel, quickly. 

“ Not if I can prevent it, Mabel. You say the Sarpent is 
on the lookout too ; so there is a double chance of our succeed 


THE FA THFINDER, 


33 ^^ 

ing in letting him know his danger ; though it is by no meanj 
sartain by which channel the party may come.” 

“ Pathfinder,” said our heroine, solemnly, for the frightful 
scenes she had witnessed had clothed death with unusual hor* 
rors — “ Pathfinder, you have professed love for me — a wish to 
make me your wife ! ” 

“ I did ventur’ to speak on that subject, Mabel, and the 
sergeant has even lately said that you are kindly disposed ; but 
I am not a man to parsecute the thing I. love.” 

“Hear me. Pathfinder — I respect you — honor you — revere you 
— save my father from this dreadful death, and I can worshij) 
you. Here is my hand as a solemn pledge for my faith, when 
you come to claim it.” 

“ Bless you — bless you, Mabel ; this is more than I desarve 
— more, I fear, than I shall know how to profit by, as I ought. 
It was not wanting, however, to make me sarve the sergeant. 
We are old comrades, and owe each other a life — though 1 fear 
me, Mabel, being a father’s comrade is not always the best rec- 
ommendation with the daughter ! ” 

“ You M'ant no other recommendation than your own acts — 
your courage — your fidelity ; all that you do and say, Pathfinder, 
my reason approves, and the heart will, nay, it shall follow.” 

“ This is happiness I little suspected this night ; but we are 
in God’s hands, and he will protect us in his own way. These 
are sweet words, Mabel, but they were not wanting to make me 
do all that man can do, in the present circumstances : they wih 
not lessen my endeavors, neither.” 

“ Now we understand each other. Pathfinder ” — Mabel 
added, hoarsely, “ let us not lose one of the precious moments, 
which may be of incalculable value. Can we get into your canoe, 
and go and meet my father ? ” 

“ That is not the course I advise. I don’t know by which 
channel the sergeant will' come, and there are twenty; rely on 
it, the Sarpent will be winding his way through them all. No, 
no, my advice is to remain here. The logs of this block-house 
are still green, and it will not be easy to set them on fire ; and 
I can make good the place, bating a burning, ag’in a tribe. 
The Iroquois nation cannot dislodge me from this fortress, 
so long as we can keep the flames off it. The sergeant is 
now camped on some island, and will not come in until morn- 
ing. If we hold the block, we can give him timely warn- 
ing, by firing rifles for instance, and should he determine 
to attack the savages, as a man of his temper will be very likely 
to do, the possession of this building will be of great account 


THE PA TH FINDER, 


337 

in the affair. No, no, my judgment says remain, it the object 
be to sarve the sergeant ; though escape for our two selves will 
be no very difficult matter.” 

“ Stay,” murmured Mabel — “ stay, for God’s sake. Pathfinder. 
Anything — everything, to save my father 1 ” 

“ Yes that is natur’. I am glad to hear you say this Mabel, 
for I own a wish to see the sergeant fairly supported. As the 
matter now stands, he has gained himself credit ; and could he 
once drive off these miscreants, and make an honorable retreat, 
laying the huts and blocks in ashes, no doubt, no doubt Lundie 
would remember it, and sarve him accordingly. Yes, yes, Mabel, 
we must not only save the sergeant’s life, but we must save his 
reputation.” 

“No blame can rest on my father, on account of the sur 
prise of this island ! ” 

“ There’s no telling — there’s no telling ; military glory is a 
most unsartain thing. I’ve seen the Delawares routed, when 
they desarved more credit than at other times when they’ve 
carried the day. A man is wrong to set his head on suc- 
cess of any sort, and, worst of all, on success in war. I 
know little of the settlements, or of the notions that men hold 
in them ; but up hereaway, even the Indians i ate a warrior’s 
character according to his luck. The principal thing with a 
soldier is never to be whipt , nor do I think mankind stops 
long to consider how the clay was won or lost. For my part, 
Mabel, I make it a rule when facing the immy, to give him as 
good as I can send, and to try to be as moderate as I can when 
we get the better ; as for feeling moderate after a defeat, 
little need be said on that score, as a flogging is one of the most 
humbling things in natur’. The parsons preach about hu- 
mility, in the garrisons ; but if humility would make Christians, 
the king’s troops ought to be saints, for they’ve done little, as 
yet, this war, but take lessons from the French, beginning at 
Fort du Quesne, and ending at Ty ! ” 

“ My father could not have suspected that the position of 
the island was known to the enemy,” resumed Mabel, whose 
thoughts were running on the probable effect of the recent 
events on the sergeant. 

“ That is true ; nor do I well see how the Trenchers found 
it out. The spot is well chosen, and it is not an easy matter, 
even to one who has travelled the road to and from it, to find 
it again. There has been treachery, I fear j yes, yes, there 
must have been treachery ! ” 

“ Oh 1 Pathfinder, can this be ! ” 


THE PATHFINDER. 


33S 

“ Nothing is easier, Mabel, for treachery comes as nat’ral td 
some men as eating. Now, when I find a man all fair words, 1 
look close to his deeds ; for when the heart is right, and raaly 
intends to do good, it is generally satisfied to let the conduct 
speak, instead of the tongue.” 

“Jasper Western is not one of these,” said Mabel, inpetu 
ously. “ No youth can be more sincere in his manner, or less 
apt to make the tongue act for the head.” 

“Jasper Western! — tongue and heart are both right with 
that lad, depend on it, Mabel ; and the notion taken up by 
Lundie, and the quartermaster, and the sergeant, and your 
uncle, too, is as wrong as it would be to think that the sun 
shone by night and the stars shone by day. No — no — I’ll an- 
swer for Eau-douce’s honesty with my own scalp, or, at need, 
with my own rifle.” 

“ Bless you — bless you. Pathfinder I ” exclaimed Mabel^ ex- 
tending her own hand, and pressing the iron fingers of her 
companion, under a state of feeling that far surpassed her own 
consciousness of its strength. “You are all that is generous 
— all that is noble ; God will reward you for it.” 

“ Ah I Mabel, I fear me, if this be true, I should not covet 
such a wife as yourself, but would leave you to be sued for by 
some gentleman of the garrison, as your desarts require.” 

“We will not talk of this any more to-night,” Mabel an- 
swered, in a voice so smothered as to seem nearly choked. 
“ We must think less of ourselves, just now, Pathfinder, and 
more of our friends. But I rejoice from my soul that you be- 
lieve Jasper innocent. Now let us talk of other things — ought 
we not to release June ? ” 

“ I’ve been thinking about the woman, for it will not be 
safe to shut her eyes and leave her ears open, on this side of 
the block-house door. If we put her in the upper- room and 
take away the ladder, she’ll be a prisoner at least.” 

“ I cannot treat one thus who has saved my life. It would 
be better to let her depart ; I think she is too much my friend to 
do anything to harm me.” 

“ You do not know the race, Mabel ; you do not know the 
race. It’s true she’s not a full-blooded Mingo, but she consort? 
with the vagabonds, and must have lamed some of their tricks. 
What is that ? ” 

“It sounds like oars — some boat is passing through the 
channel I ” 

Pathfinder closed the trap that led to the lower room, to 
prevent June from escaping, extinguished the candle, and went 


THE PA THFINDER. 


339 

hastily to a loop, Mabel looking over his shoulder in breath’esa 
curiosity. These several movements consumed a minute ot 
two ; and, by the time the eye of the scout had got a dim view 
of things without, two boats had swept past, and shot up to 
the shore, at a spot some fifty yards beyond the block, where 
there was a regular landing. The obscurity prevented more 
from being seen ; and Pathfinder whispered to Mabel, that the 
newcomers were as likely to be foes as friends, for he did not 
think her father could possibly have arrived so soon. A num- 
ber of men were now seen to quit the boats, and then followed 
three hearty English cheers, leaving no further doubts of the 
character of the party. Pathfinder sprang to the trap, raised it, 
glided down the ladder, and began to unbar the door, with an 
earnestness that proved how critical he deemed the moment. 
Mabel had followed, but she rather impeded than aided his exer- 
tions, and but a single bar was turned when a heavy discharge 
of rifles was heard. They were still standing in breathless sus- 
pense, as the war-whoop rang in all the surrounding thickets. 
The door now opened, and both Pathfinder and Mabel rushed 
into the open air. All human sounds had ceased. After lis- 
tening for a half a minute, however. Pathfinder thought he 
heard a few stifled groans near the boats ; but the wind blew 
so fresh, and the rustling of the leaves mingled so much with 
the murmurs of the passing air, that he was far from certain. 
But Mabel was borne away by her feelings, and she rushed from 
him, taking the way toward the boats. 

“ This will not do, Mabel,” said the scout, in an earnest but 
low voice, seizing her by an arm — “ this will never do. Sar- 
tain death would follow, and that without sarving any one. 
We must return to the block.” 

“ Father ! my poor, dear, murdered father ! ” said the girl, 
wildly, though habitual caution, even at that trying moment, 
induced her to speak lov/. “ Pathfinder, if you love me, let 
me go to my dear father ! ” 

“ This will not do, Mabel. — It is singular that no one speaks ; 
no one returns the fire from the boats — and I have left Kill* 
deer in the block ! But of what use would a rifle be when no 
one is to be seen.” 

At that moment the quick eye of Pathfinder, which, while 
he held Mabel firmly in his grasp, had never ceased to roam 
over the dim scene, caught an indistinct view of five or six dark, 
crouching forms, endeavoring to steal past him, doubtless with 
the xntention of intercepting their retreat to the block-house. 
Catching up Mabel, and putting her under an arm as if she 


THE PATHFINDER. 


340 

were an infant, the sinewy frame of the woodsman was exerted 
to the utmost, and he succeeded in entering the building. The 
tramp of his pursuers seemed immediately at his heels. Drop^ 
ping his burden, he turned, closed the door, and had fastened 
one bar, as a rush against the solid mass threatened to force it 
from the hinges. To secure the other bars was the work of an 
instant. 

Mabel now ascended to the first floor, while Pathfindei re- 
mained as a sentinel below. Our heroine was in that state in 
which the body exerts itself, apparently without the control of 
the mind. She re-lighted the candle mechanically, as her com- 
panion had desired, and returned with it below, where he was 
waiting her reappearance. No sooner was Pathfinder in posses- 
sion of the light, than he examined the place carefully, to make 
certain no one was concealed in the fortress, ascending to each 
floor in succession, after assuring himself that he left no enemy 
in his rear. The result was the conviction that the block-house 
now contained no one but Mabel and himself, June having es- 
caped. When perfectly convinced on this material point, Path- 
finder rejoined our heroine, in the principal apartment, setting 
down the light, and examining the priming of Killdeer before 
he seated himself. 

“ Our worst fears are realized,” said Mabel, to whom the 
hurry and excitement of the last five minutes appeared to con- 
tain the emotions of a life. My beloved father and all his 
party are slain or captured ! ” 

“ We don’t know that — morning will tell us all. I do not 
think the affair as settled as that, or we should hear the vaga- 
bond Mingoes yelling out their triumph around the block- 
house. Of one thing we may be sartain ; if the inimy has really 
got the better, he will not be long in calling upon us to sur- 
render. The squaw will let him into the secret of our situation, 
and, as they well know the place cannot be fired by daylight so 
long as Killdeer continues to desarve his reputation, you may 
depend on it that they will not be backward in making their at- 
tempt while darkness helps them.” 

“ Surely, I hear a groan ! ” 

“ ’Tis fancy, Mabel, when the mind gets to be skeary, es 
pecially a woman’s mind, she often consaits things that have 
no reality. I’ve known them that imagined there was truth in 
dreams — ” 

“ Nay, I am not deceived — there is surely one below, and 
in pain ! ” 

Pathfinder was compelled to own that the quick senses of 


THE PATHFINDER. 


341 


Mabel bad not deceived her. ^ Hq cautioned her, however, to 
/epress her ff^dings ; and reminded her that the savages were 
in the practice of resorting to every artifice to attain their ends, 
and that nothing was more likely than that the groans were 
feigned with a view to lure them from the block-house, or at 
least to induce them to open the door. 

“ No — no — no — ” said Mabel, hurriedly, “ there is no artifice 
in those sounds, and they come from anguish of body, if not of 
spirit. They are fearfully natural.” 

“Well, we shall soon know whether a friend is there, or not. 
Hide the light again, Mabel, and I will speak the person from 
a loop.” 

Not a little precaution was necessary, according to Path- 
finder’s judgment and experience, in performing even this sim- 
ple act, for he had known the careless slain by their want of 
proper attention to, what might have seemed to the ignorant, 
supererogatory means of safety. He did not place his mouth 
to the loop itself, but so near it that he could be heard without 
raising his voice, and the same precaution was observed as 
regards his ear. 

“ Who is below ? ” Pathfinder demanded, when his arrange- 
ments were made to his mind. “ Is any one in suffering ? If 
a friend, speak boldly, and depend on our aid.” 

“ Pathfinder ! ” answered a voice that both Mabel and the 
person addressed at once knew to be the sergeant’s, “Path- 
finder, in the name of God, tell me what has become of my 
daughter.” 

“Father, I am here ! — unhurt — safe — and oh ! that I could 
think the same of you ! ” 

The ejaculation of thanksgiving that followed was distinctly 
audible to the two, but it was clearly mingled with a groan of 
pain. 

“ My worst forebodings are realized ! ” said Mabel with a sort 
of desperate calmness. “ Pathfinder, my father must be brought 
within the block, though we hazard everything to do it.” 

“This is natur’, and it is the law of God. But, Mabel, be 
calm, and endivor to be cool. All that can be effected for the 
sergeant by human invention shall be done. I only ask you 
to be cool.” 

“ I am — I am — Pathfinder. Never in my life was I more 
calm, more collected, than at this moment. But remember 
how perilous may be every instant ; for Heaven’s sake, what 
we do, let us do without delay.” 

Pathfinder was struck with the firmness of Mabel’s tones, 


342 


THE PATHFINDER. 


and perhaps he was a little deceived by the forced tranquillity 
and self-possession she had assumed. At all eveia.ts, he did not 
deem any further explanation necessary, but descended lunK 
with, and began to unbar the door. This delicate process was 
conducted with the usual caution, but, as he warily permitted 
the mass of timber to swing back on the hinges, he felt a pres- 
sure against it that had nearly induced him to close it again 
But, catching a glimpse of the cause through the crack, the 
door was permitted to swing back, when the body of Sergeant 
Dunham, which was propped against it, fell partly within the 
block. To draw in the legs and secure the fastenings, occu- 
pied the Pathfinder but a moment. Then there existed no ob- 
stacle to their giving their undivided care to the wounded man. 

Mabel, in this trying scene, conducted herself with the 
sort of unnatural energy that her sex, when aroused, is apt to 
manifest. She got the light, administered water to the parched 
lips of her father, and assisted Pathfinder in forming a bed of 
straw for his body, and a pillow of clothes for his head. All 
this was done earnestly, and almost without speaking ; nor did 
Mabel shed a tear, until she heard the blessings of her father 
murmured on her head, for this tenderness and care. All this 
time, Mabel had merely conjectured the condition of ‘her pa- 
rent. Pathfinder, however, showed greater attention to the 
physical danger of the sergeant. He ascertained that a rifle 
ball had passed through the body of the wounded man ; and 
he was sufficiently familiar with injuries of this nature to 
be certain that the chances of his surviving the hurt, were very 
trifling, if any. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 


“ Then-drink my tears, while yet they fail— 

Would that my bosom’s blood were balm; 

And — well thou knowest — I’d shed it all. 

To give thy brow one minute’s calm.” 

— Moorb. 

The eyes of Sergeant Dunham had not ceased to follow the 
form of his beautiful daughter, from the moment that the light 
appeared. Pie next examined the door of the block, to ascer- 
tain its security ; for he was left on the ground below, there 
being no available means of raising him to the upper floor. 


THE PATHFINDER. 


343 

Then he sought the face of Mabel ; for, as life wanes fast, the 
affections resume their force, and we begin to value that most 
which we feel we are about to lose forever. 

“ God be praised, my child, you, at least, have escaped their 
murderous rifles ! ” he said, for he spoke with strength, and 
seemingly with no additional pain. “ Give me the history of 
this sad business. Pathfinder.” 

“ Ah’s me, sergeant ! it has been sad, as you say. That 
there has been treachery, and the position of the island has 
been betrayed, is now as sartain, in my judgment, as that we 
still hold the block. But ” 

“ Major Duncan was right,” interrupted Dunham, laying a 
hand on the other’s arm. 

“ Not in the sense you mean, sergeant — no, not in that 
p’int of view ; never. At least, not in my opinion. I know 
that natur’ is weak — human natur’, I mean — and that we should 
none of us vaunt of our gifts, whether red or white ; but I do 
not think that a truer-hearted lad lives on the lines, than Jasper 
Western.” 

“ Bless you — bless you for that. Pathfinder ! ” burst forth 
from Mabel’s very soul, while a flood of tears gave vent to 
emotions that were so varied, while they were so violent ; “ Oh, 
bless you. Pathfinder, bless you ! The brave should never de- 
sert the brave — the, honest should sustain the honest.” 

The father’s eyes were fastened anxiously on the face of 
his daughter, until the latter hid her countenance in her apron, 
to conceal her tears ; and then they turned with inquiry to the 
hard features of the guide. The latter merely wore their usual 
expression of frankness, sincerity, and uprightness ; and the 
sergeant motioned to him to proceed. 

“ You know the spot where the Sarpent and I left you, ser- 
geant,” Pathfinder resumed ; “ and I need say nothing of all 
that happened afore. It is now too late to lament what is gone 
and passed ; but I do think if I had stayed with the boats, this 
would not have come to pass ! Other men may be as good 
guides ; I make no doubt they are ; but then Natur’ bestows 
its gifts , and some must be better than other some. I dare 
say poor Gilbert, who took my place, has suffered for his mis- 
take.” 

“ He fell at my elbow,” the sergeant answered, in a low, 
melancholy tone. “ We have, indeed, all suffered for our mis- 
takes ! ” 

“ No, no, sergeant ; I meant no condemnation on you ; for 
men were never better commanded than your’n in this very ex 


THE PATHFINDER. 


344 

pcdition. I never beheld a prettier flanking ; and the way in 
which you carried your own boat up ag’in their howitzer might 
have teached Lundie, himself, a lesson.” 

The eyes of the sergeant brightened ; his face even wore 
an expression of military triumph, though it was of a degree 
that suited the humble sphere in which he had been an actor. 

“ ’Twas not badly done, my friend,” he said ; “ and we 
carried their log breast-work by storm ! ” 

“ ’Twas nobly done, sergeant ; though I fear, when all the 
truth comes to be known, it will be found that these vagabonds 
have got their howitzer back ag’in. Well, well, put a stout 
heart upon it, and try to forget all that is disagreeable, and to 
remember only the pleasant part of the matter. That is your 
truest philosophy ; ay, and truest religion, too. If the inimy 
has got the howitzer ag’in, they’ve only got what belonged to 
them afore, and what we couldn’t help. They hav’n’t got the 
block-house yet, nor are they likely to get it, unless they fire it 
in the dark. Well, sergeant, the Sarpent and I separated 
about ten miles down the river, for we thought it wisest not to 
come upon even a friendly camp without the usual caution. 
What has become of Chingachgook, I cannot say, though 
Mabel tells me he is not far off, and I make no question the 
noble-hearted Delaware is doing his duty, although he. is not 
now visible to our eyes. Mark my word, sergeant ; before this 
matter is over, we shall hear of him at some critical time, and 
that in a discreet and creditable manner. Ah ! the Sarpent is, 
indeed, a wise and virtuous chief ; and any white man might 
covet his gifts, though his rifle is not quite as sure as Killdeer, 
it must be owned. Well, as I came near the island, I missed 
the smoke, and that put me on my guard ; for I knew that the 
men of the 55th were not cunning enough to conceal that 
sign, notwithstanding all that has been told them of its danger. 
This made me more careful, until I came in sight of this mock- 
fisherman, as I’ve just told Mabel ; and then the whole of their 
infernal arts was as plain before me, as if I saw it on a map. I 
need not tell you, sergeant, that my first thoughts were of 
Mabel ; and that, finding she was in the block, I came here, 
in order, to live or die in her company.” 

The father turned a gratified look upon his child, and Mabel 
felt a sinking of the heart that, at such a moment, she could not 
have thought possible, when she wished to believe all her con- 
cern centred m the situation of her parent. As the latter held 
out his hand sne took it in her own and kissed it. Then, kn^el 
ing at his side, she wept as if her heart would break. 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


345 

“ Mabel,” he said, steadily, “ the will of God must be done. 
It is useless to attempt deceiving either you or myself ; my 
time has come, and it is a consolation to me to die like a sol- 
dier. Lundie will do me justice, for our good friend Pathfinder 
will tell him what has been done, and how all came to pass. 
You do not forget our last conversation ?” 

“ Nay, father, my time has probably come, too,” exclaimed 
Mabel, who felt just then as if it would be a relief to die. “ I 
cannot hope to escape, and Pathfinder would do well to leave 
us, and return to the garrison with the sad news, while he 
can.” 

“ Mabel Dunham,” said Pathfinder, reproachfully, though 
he took her hand with kindness. “ I have not desarved this ; 
I know I am wild, and uncouth, and ungainly ” 

“ Pathfinder ! ” 

“ Well — well, we’ll forget it ; you do not mean it ; you could 
not think it. It is useless, now, to talk of escaping, for the 
sergeant cannot be moved ; and the block-house must be de- 
fended, cost what it will. Maybe Lundie will get the tidings 
of our disaster, and send a party to raise the siege.” 

“ Pathfinder — Mabel ! ” said the sergeant, who had been 
writhing with pain, until the cold sweat stood on his forehead 
— -“come both to my side. You understand each other, I 
hope ? ” 

“ Father, say nothing of that — it is all as you wish.” 

“ Thank God ! Give me your hand, Mabel — here. Path- 
finder, take it. I can do no more than give you the girl in this 
way. I know you will make her a kind husband. Do not wait 
on account of my death ; there will be a chaplain in the fo.rt 
before the season closes ; let him marry you at once. My 
brother, if living, will wish to go back to his vessel, and then 
the child will have no protector. Mabel, your husband will 
have been my friend, and that will be some consolation to you, 
I hope.” 

“ Trust this matter to me, sergeant,” put in Pathfinder ; 
“ leave it all in my hands, as your dying request ; and, depend 
on it, all will go as it should.” 

“ I do — I do put all confidence in you, my trusty friend, 
and empower you to act, as I could act myself, in every par- 
ticular. Mabel, child — hand me the water — you will never re- 
pent this night. Bless you, my daughter — God bless and have 
you in his holy keeping.” 

This tenderness was inexpressibly touching to one of 
Mabel’s feelings ; and she felt at that moment as if her future 


THE PA THFINDER. 


346 

union with Pathfinder had received a solemnization that no 
ceremony of the church could render more holy. Still, a 
weight, as that of a mountain, lay upon her heart, and she 
thought it would be happiness to die. Then followed a short 
pause, when the sergeant, in broken sentences, briefly related 
what had passed since he parted with Pathfinder and the Dela 
T ware. The wind had come more favorable, and instead of en 
camping on an island, agreeably to the original intention, he 
had determined to continue, and reach the station that night. 
Their approach would have been unseen, and a portion of the 
calamity avoided, he thought, had they not grounded on the 
point of a neighboring island, where, no doubt, the noise made 
by the men, in getting off the boat, gave notice of their ap- 
proach, and enabled tfie enemy to be in readiness to receive 
them. They had landed without the slightest suspicion of dan- 
ger, though surprised at not finding a sentinel, and had actually 
left their arms in the boat, with the intention of first securing 
their knapsacks and provisions. The fire had been so close 
that, notwithstanding the obscurity, it was very deadly. Every 
man had fallen; though two or three, however, subsequently 
arose, and disappeared. Four or five of the soldiers had been 
killed, or so nearly so as to survive but a few minutes ; though, foi 
some unknown reason, the enemy did not make the usual rush 
for the scalps. Sergeant Dunham fell with others ; and he had 
heard the voice of Mabel, as she rushed from the block-house. 
This frantic appeal aroused all his parental feelings, and had 
enabled him to crawl as far as the door of the building, where 
he had raised himself against the logs, in the manner already 
mentioned. 

After this simple explanation was made, the sergeant was so 
weak as to need repose ; and his companions, while they minis- 
tered to his wants, suffered some time to pass in silence. Path- 
finder took the occasion to reconnoitre from the loops and the 
roofs, and he examined the condition of the rifles, of which there 
were a dozen kept in the building, the soldiers having used their 
regimental muskets in their expedition. But Mabel never left 
her father’s side for an instant, and when, by his breathing, she 
fancied he slept, she bent her knees and prayed. 

The half hour that succeeded was awfully solemn and still. 
The moccasin of Pathfinder was barely heard overhead, and occa- 
sionally the sound of the breech of a rifle fell upon the floor, for 
he was busied in examining the pieces with a view to ascertain the 
state of their charges, and their primings. Beyond this, nothing 
was so loud as the breathing of the wounded man. Mabel’s 


THE PATHFINDER. 


347 

heart yearned to be in communication with the father she was 
so soon to lose, and yet she would not disturb his apprent repose. 
But Dunham slept not ; he was in that state when the world sud- 
denly loses its attractions, its illusions, and its power ; and the 
unknown future fills the mind with its conjectures, its revelations, 
and its immensity. He had been a moral man for one of his mode 
of life, but he had thought little of this all-important moment. 
Had the din of battle been ringing in his ears, his martial ardor 
might have endured to the end ; but there, in the silence of 
that nearly untenanted block-house, with no sound to enliven 
him, no appeal to keep alive factitious sentiment, no hope of 
victory to impel, things began to appear in *their true colors, 
and this state of being to be estimated at its just value. He 
would have given treasures for religious consolation, yet he 
knew not where to turn to seek it. He thought of Pathfinder, 
but he distrusted his knowledge. He thought of Mabel ; for 
the parent to appeal to the child for such succor, appeared like 
reversing the order of nature. Then it was that he felt the full 
responsibility of the parental character, and had some clear 
glimpses of the manner in which he himself had discharged the 
trust toward an orphan child. While thoughts like these were 
rising in his mind, Mabel, who watched the slightest change in 
his breathing, heard a guarded knock at the door. Supposing 
it might be Chingachgook, she rose, undid two of the bars, and 
held the third one in her hand, as she asked who was there. 
The answer was in her uncle’s voice, and he implored her to 
give him immediate admission. Without an instant of hesi- 
tation she turned the bar, and Cap entered. He had barely 
passed the opening, when Mabel closed the door again, and se- 
cured it as before, for practice had rendered her expert in this 
portion of her duties. 

The sturdy seaman, when he had made sure of the state of 
his brother-in-law, and that Mabel, as well as himself, was safe, 
was softened nearly to tears. His own appearance he explained, 
by saying that he had been carelessly guarded, under the im- 
pression that he and the quartermaster were sleeping under the 
fumes of liquor with which they had been plied, with a view to 
keep them quiet in the expected engagement. Muir had been 
left asleep, or seeming to sleep ; but Cap had run into the 
bushes on the alarm of the attack, and, having found Path- 
finder’s canoe, had only succeeded at that moment in getting to 
the block-house, whither he had come with the kind intent of 
escaping with his niece by water. It is scarcely necessary to 
say that he changed his plan when he ascertained the state ol 


THE PA THFINDER, 


348 

the sergeant, and the apparent security of his present quar 
ters. 

“ If the worst comes to the worst, Master Pathfinder,” he 
said, “ we must strike, and that will entitle us to quarter. We 
owe it to our manhood to hold out a reasonable time, and to 
ourselves to haul down the ensign in season to make saving 
conditions. I wished Master Muir to do the same thing when we 
were captured by these chaps you call vagabonds — and rightly 
are they named, for viler vagabonds do not walk the earth—” 

“ You’ve found out their characters ! ” interrupted Path- 
finder, who was always as ready to chime in with abuse of the 
Mingoes, as with the praises of his friends. “ Now, had you 
fallen into the hands of the Delawares, you would have lamed 
the difference.” 

“ Well, to me they seem much of a muchness ; blackguards fore 
and aft, always excepting our friend the Serpent, who is a gentle- 
man for an Injin. But, when these savages made an assault on 
us, killing Corporal McNab and his men, as if they had been 
so many rabbits. Lieutenant Muir and myself took refuge in 
of the holes of this here island,ofwhich there are so many among 
the rocks — regular geological underground burrows made by the 
water,as the lieutenant says— and there we remained,stowed away 
like two leaguers in a ship’s hold, until we gave out for want of 
grub. A man may say that grub is the foundation of human 
nature. I desired the quartermaster to make terms, for we 
could have defended Ourselves for an hour or two in the place, 
bad as it was ; but he declined, on the ground that the knaves 
wouldn’t keep faith if any of them were hurt, and so there was 
no use in asking them to. I consented to strike, on two prin- 
ciples ; one, that we might be said to have struck already, for 
running below is generally thought to be giving up the ship ; 
and the other, that we had an enemy in our stomachs that was 
more formidable in his attacks than the enemy on deck. Hunger 

is a d ble circumstance, as any man who has lived on it 

eight-and-forty hours will acknowledge.” 

“ Uncle ! ” said Mabel, in a mournful voice, and with an ex- 
postulatory manner, “ my poor father is sadly, sadly hurt ! ” 

“True, Magnet, true — I will sit by him, and do my best at 
consolation. Are the bars well fastened, girl ? on such an oc- 
casion, the mind should be tranquil and undisturbed.” 

“ We are safe, I believe, from all but this heavy blow of 
Providence.” 

“ Well, then. Magnet, do you go up to the floor above, and 
try to compose yourself, while Pathfinder runs aloft and takes 


THE PA THFINDER. 


349 

a lookout from the cross-trees. Your father may wish to say 
something to me, in private, and it may be well to leave us 
alone. These are solemn scenes, and inexperienced people, 
like myself, do not always wish what they say to be overheard.” 

Although the idea of her uncle’s affording religious con- 
solation by the side of a deathbed, certainly never obtruded 
itself on the imagination of Mabel, she thought there might be 
a propriety in the request with which she was unacquainted ; 
and she complied accordingly. Pathfinder had already as- 
cended to the roof to make his survey, and the brothers-in-law 
were left alone. Cap took a seat by the side of the sergeant, 
and bethought him seriously of the grave duty he had before 
him. A silence of several minutes succeeded, during which 
brief space the mariner was digesting the substance of his in- 
tended discourse. 

“I must say. Sergeant Dunham,” Cap at length com- 
menced, in his peculiar manner, “ that there has been misman- 
agement somewhere in this unhappy expedition, and, the present 
being an occasion when truth ought to be spoken, and nothing 
but the truth, I feel it my duty to say as much in plain language. 
In short, sergeant, on this point there cannot well be two opin- 
ions ; for, seaman as I am, and no soldier, I can see several 
errors myself, that It needs no great education to detect.” 

“ What would you have, brother Cap ?” returned the other, 
in a feeble voice — “ what is done is done ; it is now too late to 
remedy it.” 

“ Very true, brother Dunham, but not to repent of it ; the 
good book tells us it is never too late to repent; and I’ve 
always heard that this is the precious moment. If you’ve any- 
thing on your mind, sergeant, hoist it out freely, for you know 
you trust it to a friend. You were my own sister’s husband, 
and poor little Magnet is my own sister’s daughter ; and, living 
or dead, I shall always look upon you as a brother. It’s a 
thousand pities that you didn’t lie off and on with the boats, 
and send a canoe ahead to reconnoitre ; in which case your 
command would have been saved, and this disaster would not 
have befallen us all. Well, sergeant, we are all mortal ; that 
is some consolation, I make no doubt ; and if you go before a 
little, why we must follow. Yes, that must givehim consolation.” 

“I know all this, brother Cap ; and hope I’m prepared to 
meet a soldier’s fate — there is poor Mabel ” 

“Ay, ay — that’s a heavy drag, I know; but you wouldn’t 
take her with you, if you could, sergeant ; and so the better 
way IS to make as light of the separation as you can. Mabel 


THE PATHFINDER. 


350 

is a good girl, and so was her mother before her-, she was my 
sister, and it shall be my care to see that her daughter gets a 
good husband, if our lives and scalps are spared ; for 1 suppose 
no one would care about entering into a family that has no 
scalps.” 

“ Brother, my child is betrothed — she will become the wife 
of Pathfinder.” 

“Well, brother Dunham, every man has his opinions, and 
his manner of viewing things ; and to my notion this match 
will be anything but agreeable to Mabel ; I have no objections 
to the age of the man ; I am not one of them that thinks it 
necessary to be a boy to make a girl happy, but on the whole 
I prefer a man of about fifty for a husband ; still, there ought 
not to be any circumstances between the parties to make them 
unhappy. Circumstances play the devil with matrimony ; and 
I set it down as one, that Pathfinder don’t know as much as my 
niece. You’ve seen but little of the girl, sergeant, and have not 
got the run of her knowledge ; but let her pay it out freely, as 
she will do when she gets to be thoroughly acquainted ; and 
you’ll fall in with but few schoolmasters that can keep their luffs 
in her company.” 

“She’s a good child — a dear, good child,” muttered the 
sergeant, his eyes filling with tears — “ it is my misfortune that 
I have seen so little of her.” 

“ She is indeed a good girl, and knows altogether too much 
for poor Pathfinder, who is a reasonable man, and an experi- 
enced man in his own way ; but who has no more idea of the 
main chance than you have of spherical trigonometry, sergeant.” 

“ Ah ! brother Cap, had Pathfinder been with us in the boats 
this sad affair might not have happened ! ” 

“ That is quite likely ! his worst enemy will allow that the 
man is a good guide ; but, sergeant, if the truth must be spoken, 
you have managed this expedition in a loose way, altogether ; 
you should have hove-to off your haven and sent in a boat to re- 
connoitre, as I told you before. This is a matter to be re- 
pented of and I tefl it to you because truth, in such a case, ought 
to be spoken.” 

“ My errors are dearly paid for, brother ; and poor Mabel, 
I fear, will be the sufferer. I think, however, that the calamity 
would not have happened had there not been treason. I fear 
me, brother, that Jasper Eau-douce has played us false! ” 

“That is just my notion ; this fresh-water life must, sooner 
or later, undermine any man’s morals. Lieutenant Muir and 
myself talked this matter over, while we lay in a bit of a hole 


THE PA THFINDER. 


351 

out here on this island ; and we both came to the conclusion 
that nothing short of Jasper’s treachery could have brought us 
all into this infernal scrape. Well, sergeant, you had better 
compose your mind, and think of other matters ; when a vessel 
is about to enter a strange port it is more prudent to think of 
the anchorage inside than to be underrunning all the events 
that have turned up during the v’yage — there’s the log-book, 
expressly to note all these matters in ; and what stands there 
must form the column of figures that’s to be posted up, for or 
against us. How now, Pathfinder ! is there anything in the 
wind, that you come down the ladder like an Indian in the wake 
of a scalp ? ” 

The guide raised a finger for silence, then beckoned to Cap 
to ascend the first ladder, and to allow Mabel to take his place 
at the side of the sergeant. 

“ We must be prudent, and we must be bold too,” he said, 
in a low voice. “ The riptyles are in earnest in their intention 
to fire the block, for they know there is now nothing to be 
gained by letting it stand. I hear the voice of that vagabond 
Arrowhead among them, and he is urging them to set about 
their diviltry this very night We must be stirring. Salt-water, 
and doing too. Luckily, there are four or five barrels of water 
in the block, and these are something toward a seige. My 
reckoning is wrong, too, or we shall yet reap some advantage 
from that honest follow, the Sarpent, being at liberty.” 

Cap did not wait for a second invitation, but stealing away, 
he was soon in the upper room with Pathfinder, while Mabel 
took his post by the side of her father’s humble bed. Path- 
finder had opened a loop, having so far concealed the light that 
it would not expose him to a treacherous shot, and, expecting 
a summons, he stood with his face near the hole, ready to answer. 
The stillness that succeeded was at length broken by the voice 
of Muir. 

“ Master Pathfinder,” called out the Scotchman, “ a friend 
summons you to a parley. Come freely to one of the loops, 
for you’ve nothing to fear so long as you are in converse with 
an officer of the 55th.” 

“ What is your will, quartermaster, what is your will ? I 
know the 55th, and believe it to be a brave regiment, though 
I rather incline to the 60th, as my favorite, and to the Dela- 
wares more than either. But what would you have, quarter- 
master ? It must be a pressing errand that brings you^ under 
the loops of a block-house at this hour of the night, with the 
sartainiy of Kildeer’s being inside of it.” 


352 


THE PATHFINDER 


“ Oh ! you’ll no harm a friend, Pathfinder, I’m certain, and 
that’s my security. You’re a man of judgment, and have gained 
too great a name on this frontier for bravery, to feel the neces- 
sity of foolhardiness to obtain a character. You’ll very well 
understand, my good friend, there is as much credit to be gained 
by submitting gracefully, when resistance becomes impossible, 
as by obstinately holding out contrary to the rules of war. The 
enemy is too strong for us, my brave comrade, and I come to 
counsel you to give up the block, on condition of being treated 
as a prisoner of war.” 

“ I thank you for this advice, quartermaster, which is the 
more acceptable as it costs nothing. But I do not think it 
belongs to my gifts to yield a place like this, while food and 
water last.” 

“ Well, I’d be the last. Pathfinder, to recommend anything 
against so brave a resolution, did I see the means of maintain- 
ing it. But ye’ll remember that Master Cap has fall«n ” 

“ Not he — not he,” roared the individual in question, 
through another loop — “ so far from that, lieutenant, he has 
risen to the height of this here fortification, and has no mind to 
put his head of hair into the hands of such barbers again, so 
long as he can help it. I look upon this block-house as a 
circumstance, and have no mind to throw it away.” 

“ If that is a living voice,” returned Muir, “ I am glad to 
hear it, for we all thought the man had fallen in the late fearful 
confusion ! But, Master Pathfinder, although ye’re enjoying 
the society of your friend Cap, and a great pleasure do I know 
it to be, by the experience of two days and a night passed in a 
hole in the earth, we’ve lost that of Sergeant Dunham, who has 
fallen, with all the brave men he led in the late expedition. 
Lundie would have it so, though it would have been more 
discreet and becoming to send a commissioned officer in com- 
mand. Dunham was a brave man notwithstanding, and shall 
have justice done his memory. In short, we have all acted for 
the best, and that is as much as could be said in favor of 
Prince Eugene, the Duke of Marlborough, or the great Earl of 
Stair himself.” 

“You’re wrong ag’in, quartermaster, you’re wrong ag’in,” 
answered Pathfinder, resorting to a ruse to magnify his force. 
“ The sergeant is safe in the block too, where one might say 
the whole family is collected.” - 

“ Well, I rejoice to hear it, for we had certainly counted the 
sergeant among the slain. If pretty Mabel is in the block still, 
let her not delay an instant, for Heaven’s sake, in quitting it, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


353 

Jor the enemy is about to put it to trial by fire. Ye know the 
potency of that dread element, and will be acting more like the 
discreet and experienced warrior ye’re universally allowed to 
be, in yielding a place you canna’ defend, than in drawing down 
ruin on yourself and companions.” 

“ I know the potency of fire, as you call it, quartermaster, 
and am not to be told, at this late hour, that it can be used for 
something else, besides cooking a dinner. But I make no 
doubt you’ve heard of the potency of Killdeer, and the man who 
attempts to lay a pile of brush agin’ these logs will get a taste 
of his powder. As for arrows, it is not in their gifts to set this 
building on fire, for we’ve no shingles on our roof, but good 
solid logs and green bark, and plenty of water besides. The 
roof is so flat, too, as you know yourself, quartermaster, that we 
can walk on it, and so no danger on that score while water lasts. 
I’m peaceable enough if let alone, but he who endivers to burn 
this block over my head will find the fire squinched in his own 
blood.” 

“ This is idle and romantic talk. Pathfinder, and ye’ll no 
maintain it yourself when ye come to meditate on the realities. 
I hope ye’ll no gainsay the loyalty or the courage of the 55th, 
and I feel convinced that a council of war would decide on the 
propriety of a surrender forthwith. N a’ — na’ — Pathfinder, fool- 
hardiness is na’ mair like the bravery of Wallace or Bruce, than 
Albany on the Hudson is like the old town of Edinbro’.” 

“ As each of us seems to have made up his mind, quarter- 
master, more words are useless. If the riptyles near you are 
disposed to set about their hellish job, let them begin at once. 
They can burn wood and I’ll burn powder. If I were an Injin 
at the stake, I suppose I could brag as well as the rest of them ; 
but, my gifts and natur’ being both white, my turn is rather for 
doing than talking. You’ve said quite enough, considering 
you carry the king’s commission ; and, should we all be con- 
sumed, none of us will bear_y^// any malice.” 

“ Pathfinder, you’ll no be exposing Mabel, pretty Mabel 
Dunham, to sic’ a calamity ! ” 

“ Mabel Dunham is by the side of her wounded father, and 
God will care for the safety of a pious child. Not a hair of her 
head shall fall while my arm and sight remain true ; and though 
you may trust the Mingoes, Master Muir, I put no faith in them. 
You’ve a knavish Tuscarora in your company there, who has 
art and malice enough to spoil the character of any tribe with 
which he consorts, though he found the Mingoes ready ruined 


THE PATHFINDER. 


354 

to his hands, I fear. But, enough said ; let each party go to 
the use of his means and gifts.” 

Throughout this dialogue Pathfinder kept his body covered, 
lest a treacherous shot should be aimed at the loop ; and he now 
directed Cap to ascend to the roof in order to be in readiness 
to meet the first assault. Although the latter used sufficient 
diligence, he found no less than ten blazing arrows sticking to 
the bark, while the air was filled with the yells and whoops of 
the enemy. A rapid discharge of rifles followed, and the bullets 
came pattering against the logs in a way to show that the strug- 
gle had indeed seriously commenced. 

These were sounds, however, that appalled neither Path- 
finder nor Cap, while Mabel was too much absorbed in her 
affliction to feel alarm. She had good sense enough, too, to 
understand the nature of the defences, and fully to appreciate 
their importance. As for her father, the familiar noises revived 
him, and it pained his child, at such a moment, to see that his 
glassy eye began to kindle, and that the blood returned to a 
cheek it had deserted, as he listened to the uproar. It was 
now Mabel first perceived that his reason began slightly to 
wander. 

“Order up the light companies,” he muttered, “and let 
the grenadiers charge ! Do they dare to attack us in our fort ? 
Why does not the artillery open on them t ” 

At that instant, the heavy report of a gun burst out on the 
night, and the crashing of rending wood was heard, as a heavy 
shot tore the logs in the room above, and the whole block shook 
with the force of a shell that lodged in the work. Pathfinder 
narrowly escaped the passage of this formidable missile, as it 
entered ; but, when it exploded, Mabel could not suppress a 
shriek ; for she supposed all over her head, whether animate 
or inanimate, destroyed. To increase her horror, her father 
shouted, in a frantic voice, to “ charge ! ” 

“ Mabel,” said Pathfinder, with his head at the trap, “ this 
is true Mingo work — more noise than injury. The vagabonds 
have got the howitzer we took from the French, and have dis- 
charged it ag’in the block; but, fortunately, they have fired off 
the only shell we had, and there is an end of its use, for the 
present. There is some confusion among the stores up in 
this loft, but no one is hurt. Your uncle is still on the roof; 
and as for myself, Pve run the gantlet of too many rifles to be 
skeary about such a thing as a howitzer, and that in Ini in 
hands.” 

Mabel murmured her thanks, and tried to give all her attei> 


THE PATHFINDER, 


355 

tion to her father, whose efforts to rise were only counteracted 
by his debility. During the fearful minutes that succeeded, 
she was so much occupied with the care of the invalid, that she 
scarce heeded the clamor that reigned around her. Indeed, 
the uproar was so great that, had not her thoughts been other- 
wise employed, confusion of faculties, rather than alarm, would 
probably have been the consequence. 

Cap preserved his coolness admirably. He had a profound 
and increasing respect for the power of the savages, and even 
for the majesty of fresh water, it is true ; but his apprehensions 
of the former proceeded more from his dread of being scalped 
and tortured, than from any unmanly fear of death ; and as he 
was now on the deck of a house, if not on the deck of a ship, 
and he knew that there was little danger of boarders, he moved 
about with a fearlessness and a rash exposure of his person that 
Pathfinder, had he been aware of the fact, would have been the 
first to condemn. Instead of keeping his body covered, agree- 
ably to the usages of Indian warfare, he was seen on every part 
of the roof dashing the water right and left, with the apparent 
steadiness and unconcern he would have manifested had he 
been a sail-trimmer exercising his art in a battle afloat. His 
appearance was one of the causes of the extraordinary clamor 
among the assailants, who unused to see their enemies so reck- 
less, opened upon him with their tongues like the pack that 
has the fox in view. Still he appeared to possess a charmed 
life ; for, though the bullets whistled around him on every side, 
and his clothes were several times torn, nothing cut his skin. 
When the shell passed through the logs below, the old sailor 
dropped his bucket, waved his hat, and gave three cheers ; in 
which heroic act he was employed as the dangerous missile 
exploded. This characteristic feat probably saved his life : for 
from that instant the Indians ceased to fire at him, and even 
to shoot their flaming arrows at the block — having taken up 
the notion simultaneously, and by common consent, that the 
‘ Saltwater was mad;” and it was a singular effect of their 
magnanimity, never to lift a hand against those whom they 
imagined devoid of reason. 

The conduct of Pathfinder was very different. Everything 
he did was regulated by the most exact calculation — the result 
of long experience and habitual thoughtfulness. His person 
was kept carefully out of a line with the loops, and the spot 
that he selected for his lookout was one that was quite re- 
moved from danger. This celebrated guide had often been 
known to lead forlorn hopes ; he had once stood at the stake, 


THE PA THFINDER. 


35 «^ 

suffering under the cruelties and taunts of savage ingenuity 
and savage ferocity, without quailing ; and legends of his ex* 
ploits, coolness, and daring, were to be heard all along that 
extensive frontier, or wherever men dwelt and men contended. 
But on this occasion, one who did not know his history and 
character, might have thought his exceeding care and studied 
attention to self-perservation proceeded from an unworthy mo- 
tive. But such a judge would not have understood his subject. 
The Pathfinder bethought him of Mabel, and of what might 
possibly be the consequences to that poor girl should any 
casualty befall himself. But the recollection rather quickened 
his intellect than changed his customary prudence. He was, 
in fact, one of those who was so unaccustomed to fear, that he 
never bethought him of the construction others might put upon 
his conduct. But while, in moments of danger, he acted with 
the wisdom of the serpent, it was also with the simplicity of a 
child. 

For the first ten minutes of the assault Pathfinder never 
raised the breech of his rifle from the floor, except when he 
changed his own position, for he well knew that the bullets of 
the enemy were thrown away upon the massive logs of the work : 
and as he had been at the capture of the howitzer, he felt cer- 
tain that the savages had no other shell than the one found in it 
when the piece was taken. There existed no reason, therefore, 
to dread the fire of the assailants, except as a casual bullet might 
find a passage through a loophole. One or two of these acci- 
dents did occur, but the balls entered at an angle that deprived 
them of all chance of doing any injury, so long as the Indians 
kept near the block, and if discharged from a distance, there 
was scarcely the possibility of one in a hundred’s striking the 
apertures. But when Pathfinder heard the sound of moccasined 
feet, and the rustling of brush at the foot of the building, he 
knew that the attempt to build a fire against the logs was about 
to be renewed. He now summoned Cap from the roof, where 
indeed all the danger had ceased, and directed him to stand in 
readiness with his water at a hole immediately over the spot 
assailed. 

One less trained than our hero would have been in a hurry 
to repel this dangerous attempt also, and might have resorted 
to his means prematurely ; not so with Pathfinder. His aim 
was not only to extinguish the fire, about which he felt little 
apprehension, but to give the enemy a lesson that would render 
him wary during the remainder of the night. In order to effect 
the latter purpose, it became necessary to wait until the light 


THE PA THFINDER, 


35 ? 

of the intended conflagration should direct his aim, when h« 
well knew that a very slight effort of his skill would suffice. 
The Iroquois were permitted to collect their heap of dried 
brush, to pile it against the block, to light it, and to return to 
their covers without molestation. All that Pathfinder would 
suffer Cap to do was to roll a barrel filled with water to the 
hole immediately over the spot, in readiness to be used at the 
proper instant. That moment, however, did not arrive, in his 
judgment, until the blaze illuminated the surrounding bushes, 
and there had been time for his quick and practised eye to 
detect the forms of three or four lurking savages, who were 
watching the progress of the flames, wuth the cool indifference of 
men accustomed to look on human misery with apathy. Then, 
indeed, he spoke. 

“ Are you ready, friend Cap ? ” he asked. “ The heat begins 
to strike through the crevices, and, although these green logs 
are not of the fiery natur’ of an ill-tempered man, they may be 
kindled into a blaze if one provokes them too much. Are you 
ready with the barrel ? See that it has the right cut, and that 
none of the water is wasted.” 

“ All ready,” answered Cap, in the manner in which a sea- 
man replies to such a demand. 

“ Then wait for the word. Never be over impatient in a 
critical time, nor fool-risky in a battle. Wait for the word.” 

While the Pathfinder was giving these directions, he was also 
making his own preparations, for he saw it was time to act. 
Killdeer was deliberately raised, pointed, and discharged. The 
whole process occupied about half a minute, and, as the rifle 
was drawn in, the eye of the marksman was applied to the 
hole. 

“ There is one riptyle the less,” Pathfinder muttered to him- 
self ; “ I’ve seen that vagabond afore, and know him to be a 
marciless devil. Well, well, the man acted according to his 
gifts, and he has been rewarded according to his gifts. One 
more of the knaves and that will sarve the turn for to-night. 
When daylight appears we may have hotter work.” 

All this time another rifle was getting ready, and as Path- 
finder ceased, a second savage fell. This indeed sufficed, for, 
indisposed to wait for a third visitation from the same hand, 
the whole band, which had been crouching in the bushes around 
the block, ignorant of who was and who was not exposed to 
view, leaped from their covers and fled to different places for 
safety. 

“ Now, pour away, Master Cap,” said Pathfinder — “ I’ve 


THE PATHFINDER. 


3S8 

made my marks on the blackguards, and we shall have no mors 
fires lighted to-night.” 

“ Scaldings ! ” cried Cap, upsetting the barrel with a care 
that at once and completely extinguished the flames. 

This ended the singular conflict ; and the remainder of the 
night passed in peace. Pathfinder and Cap watched alter- 
nately, though neither can be said to have slept. Sleep, indeed, 
scarcely seemed necessary to them, for both were accustomed 
to protracted watchings ; and there were seasons and times when 
the former appeared to be literally insensible to the demands of 
hunger and thirst, and callous to the effects of fatigue. 

Mabel watched by her father’s pallet, and began to feel how 
much our happiness, in this world, depends even on things that 
are imaginary. Hitherto, she had virtually lived without a 
father, the connection with her remaining parent being ideal, 
rather than positive ; but, now that she was about to lose him, 
she thought, for the moment, that the world would be a void 
after his death, and that she could never be acquainted with 
happiness again. 


CHAPTER XXV. 


“ There was a roaring in the wind all night ; 

The rain came heavily, and fell in floods : 

But now the sun is rising calm and bright: 

The birds are singing in the distant woods.* 

— Wordsworth. 

As the light returned. Pathfinder and Cap ascended again 
to the roof, with a view once more to reconnoitre the state of 
things on the island. This part of the block-house had a low 
battlement around it, which afforded a considerable protection 
to those who stood in its centre ; the intention having been to 
enable marksmen to lie behind it, and to fire over its top. By 
making proper use, therefore, of these slight defences — slight 
as to height, but abundantly ample as far as they went — the 
two lookouts commanded a pretty good view of the island, its 
covers excepted ; and of most of the channels that led to the 
spot. 

The gale was still blowing very fresh at south ; and there 
were places in the river where its surface looked green and 
angry, though the wind had hardly sweep enough to raise the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


359 

water into foam. The shape of the little is*fand was generally 
oval and its greatest length was from east to west. By keeping 
xn the channels that washed it, in consequence of their seve-ral 
courses, and of the direction of the gale, it would have been 
possible for a vessel to range past the island on either of its 
principal sides, and always to keep the wind very nearly abeam. 
These were the facts first noticed by Cap, and explained to bis 
companion ; for the hopes of both now rested on the chances of 
relief sent from Oswego. At this instant, while they stood 
gazing anxiously about them, Cap cried out in his lusty, hearty 
manner : 

“ Sail, ho!” 

Pathfinder turned quickly in the direction of his companion’s 
face, and there, sure enough, was just visible the object of the old 
sailor’s exclamation. The elevation enabled the two to over- 
look the low land of several of the adjacent islands; and the 
canvas of a vessel was seen through the bushes that fringed 
the shore of one that lay to the southward and westward. The 
stranger was under what seamen call low sail ; but so great was 
the power of the wind, that her white outlines were seen flying 
past the openings of the verdure with the velocity of a fast-trav- 
elling horse ; resembling a cloud driving in the heavens. 

“ That cannot be Jasper I ” said Pathfinder, in disappoint' 
ment ; for he did not recognize the cutter of his friend, in the 
swift passing object. “No — no — the lad is behind the hour; 
that is some craft that the Frenchers have sent to aid their 
friends, the accursed Mingoes.” 

“ This time you are out of your reckoning, friend Pathfinder, 
if you never were before,” returned Cap, in a manner that had 
lost none of its dogmatism by the critical circumstances in which 
they were placed. “Fresh water or salt, that is the head of 
the Scud’s mainsail, for it is cut with a smaller gore than com- 
mon ; and then you can see that the gaff has been fished — quite 
neatly done, I admit, but fished.” 

“ I can see none of this, I confess,” answered Pathfinder, 
to whom even the terms of his companion were Greek. 

“ No ! Well, I own that surprises me ; for I thought your 
eyes could see anything ! Now, to me, nothing is plainer than 
that gore and that fish ; and I must say, my honest friend, that, 
in your place, I should apprehend that my sight was beginning 
to fail.” 

“ If Jasper is truly coming, I shall apprehend but little. We 
can make good the block against the whole Mingo nation for 
the next eight or ten hours ; and with Eau-douce to cover the 


THE PATHFIJSTDER, 


360 

retreat, I shall despair of nothing. God send that the lad ma^ 
not run alongside of the bank, and fall into an ambushment, as 
befell the sergeant ! ’’ 

“ Ay ; there’s the danger. There ought to have been signals 
concerted, and an anchorage ground buoyed out, and even a 
quarantine station, or a lazaretto, would have been useful, could 
we have made these Minks-ho respect the laws. If the lad 
fetches up, as you say, anywhere in the neighborhood of this 
island, we may look upon the cutter as lost. And, after all. 
Master Pathfinder, ought we not to set down this same Jasper 
as a secret ally of the French, rather than as a friend of our 
own ? I know the sergeant views the matter in that light, and 
I must say this whole affair looks like treason.” 

“ We shall soon know, we shall soon know. Master Cap, for 
there indeed comes the cutter, clear of the other island, and 
five minutes must settle the matter. It would be no more than 
fair, however, if we could give the boy some sign in the way of 
warning. It is not right that he should fall into the trap, with- 
out a notice that it has been laid.” 

Anxiety and suspense, notwithstanding, prevented either • 
from attempting to make any signal. It was not easy, truly, to 
see how it could be done ; for the Scud came foaming through 
the channel, on the weather side of the island, at a rate that 
scarce admitted of the necessary time. Nor was any one visi- 
ble on her deck to make signs to ; even her helm seemed de- 
serted, though her course was as steady as her progress was 
rapid. 

Cap stood in silent admiration of a spectacle so unusual. 
But, as the Scud drew nearer, his practised eye detected the 
helm in play, by means of tiller-ropes, though the person who 
steered was concealed. As the cutter had weather-boards of 
some little height, the mystery was explained ; no doubt remain- 
ing that her people lay behind the latter, in order to be pro- 
tected from the rifles of the enemy. As this fact showed that 
no force, beyond that of the small crew, could be on board. 
Pathfinder received his companion’s explanation with an omi- 
nous shake of the head. 

“ This proves that the Sarpent has not reached Oswego,” 
he said, “ and that we are not to expect succor from the garri- 
son. I hope Lundie has not taken it into his head to displace 
the lad, for Jasper Western would be a host of himself, in 
such a strait. We three. Master Cap, ought to make a manful 
warfare — you, as a seaman, to keep up the intercourse with the 
cutter, Jasper, as a laker, who knows all that is necessary to be 


THE PATHFINDER, 


361 

done on the water, and I with gifts that are as good as anj 
among the Mingoes, let me be what I may in other particulars. 
I say we ought to make a manful fight in MabeFs behalf.” 

“ That we ought — and that we will,” answered Cap, heartily, 
for he began to have more confidence in the security of his 
scalp, now that he saw the sun again ; “ I set down the arrival 
of the Scud as one circumstance, and the chances of Eau- 
douce’s honesty as another. This Jasper is a young man of 
prudence, you find, for he keeps a good offing, and seems de- 
termined to know how matters stand on the island, before he 
ventures to bring up.” 

“ I have it — I have it ! ” exclaimed Pathfinder, with exulta- 
tion ; “ there lies the canoe of the Sarpent on the cutter’s deck, 
and the chief has got on board, and no doubt has given a true 
account of our condition, unlike a Mingo, a Delaware is sartain 
to get a story right or to hold his tongue.” 

Pathfinder’s disposition to think well of the Delawares, and 
to think ill of the Mingoes, must, by this time, be very apparent 
to the reader. Of the veracity of the former he entertained the 
highest respect, while of the latter he thought, as the more ob- 
servant and intelligent classes of this country are getting pretty 
generally to think of certain scribblers among ourselves, who 
are known to have been so long in the habits of mendacity, that 
it is thought they can no longer tell the truth, even when they 
seriously make the effort. 

“ That canoe may belong to the cutter,” said the captious 
seaman ; “ Oh l-the-Deuce had one on board when we sailed.” 

“Very true, friend Cap; but if you know your sails and 
masts by your gores and fishes, I know my canoes and my 
paths by frontier knowledge. If 3^ou can see new cloth in a 
sail, I can see new bark in a canoe. That is the boat of the 
Sarpent, and the noble fellow has struck off for the garrison, as 
soon as he found the block beseiged, has fallen in with the 
Scud, and, after telling his story, has brought the cutter down 
here to see what can be done. The Lord grant that Jasper 
Western be still on board her.” 

“ Yes — yes — it might not'be amiss ; for, traitor or loyal, the 
lad has a handy way with him in a gale, it must be owned.” 

“ And in coming over waterfalls ! ” said Pathfinder, nudg- 
ing the ribs of his companion with an elbow, and laughing in 
his silent manner. “ We will give the boy his due, though he 
scalps us all with his own hand.” 

The Scud was now so near that Cap made no reply. The 
scene, just at that instant, was so peculiar that it merits a pan 


THE PATHFINDER. 


362 

ticular description ; which may also aid the reader in forming a 
more accurate idea of the picture we wish to draw. 

The gale was still blowing violently ; many of the smaller 
trees bowed their tops, as if ready to descend to the earth, 
while the rushing of the wind through the branches of the 
groves resembled the roar of distant chariots. 

The air was filled with leaves which, at that late season, 
were readily driven from their stems, and flew fiom island to 
island bke flights of birds. With this exception, the spot 
seemed silent as the grave. That the savages still remained 
was to be inferred from the fact that their canoes, together with 
the boats of the 55th, lay in a group in the little cove that had 
been selected as a harbor. Otherwise not a sign of their pres- 
ence was to be detected. Though taken entirely by surprise 
by the cutter, the sudden return of which was altogether un- 
looked for, so uniform and inbred were their habits of caution 
while on the warpath, that the instant an alarm was given, every 
man had taken to his cover, with the instinct and cunning of a 
fox seeking his hole. ThTe same stillness reigned in the block- 
house, for, though Pathfinder and Cap could command a view of 
the channel, they took the precaution necessary to lie concealed. 
The unusual absence of anything like animal life on board the 
Scud, too, was still more remarkable. As the Indians witnessed 
her apparently undirected movements, a feeling of awe gained 
a footing among them, and some of the boldest of their party 
began to distrust the issue of an expedition that had commenced 
so prosperously. Even Arrowhead, accustomed as he was to 
intercourse with the whites on both sides of the lakes, fancied 
there was something ominous in the appearance of this un- 
manned vessel, and he would gladly, at that moment, have been 
landed again on the main. 

In the meantime the progress of the cutter was steady and 
rapid. She held her way mid-channel, now inclining to the 
gusts, and now rising again, like the philosopher that bends to 
the calamities of life to resume his erect attitude as they pass 
away, but always piling the water beneath her bows in foam. 
Although she was under so very short canvas, her velocity was 
great, and there could not have elapsed ten minutes between 
the time when her sails were first seen glancing past the trees 
and bushes in the distance, and the moment when she was 
abreast of the block-house, Cap and Pathfinder leaned forward 
as the cutter came beneath their eyrie, eager to get a better 
view of her deck, when, to the delight of both, Jasper Eau* 
douce sprang upon his feet and gave three hearty cheers. R® 


THE PATHFINDER. 


363 

gardless of all risk, Cap leaped upon the rampart of logs, and 
returned the greeting, cheer for cheer. Happily, the policy of 
the enemy saved the latter, for they still lay quiet, not a rifle 
being discharged. On the other hand, Pathfinder kept in view 
the useful, utterly disregarding the mere dramatic part of war- 
fare. The moment he beheld his friend Jasper, he called out 
to him with stentorian lungs : 

“ Stand by us, lad, and the day’s our own ! Give ’m a grist 
in yonder bushes, and you’ll put ’m up like partridges.” 

Part of this reached Jasper’s ears, but most was borne off 
to leeward on the wings of the wind. By the time this was said 
the Scud had driven past, and in the next moment she was hid 
from view by the grove in which the block-house was partially 
concealed. 

Two anxious minutes succeeded, but, at the expiration of 
that brief space, the sails were again gleaming through the 
trees, Jasper having wore, jibed, and hauled up under the lee 
of the island on the other tack. The wind was free enough, as 
has been already explained, to admit of this manoeuvre ; and 
the cutter, catching the current under her lee bow, was breasted 
up to her course in a way that showed she would come out to 
windward of the island again, without any difficulty. This 
whole evolution was made with the greatest facility, not a sheet 
being touched, the sails trimming themselves, the rudder alone 
controlling the admirable machine. The object appeared to be 
a reconnoissance. When, however, the Scud had made the 
circuit of the entire island, and had again got her weatherly 
position in the channel by which she had first approached, her 
helm was put down, and she tacked. The noise of the mainsail 
flapping when it filled, close reefed as it was, sounded like the 
report of a gun, and Cap trembled lest the seams should open. 

“ His Majesty gives good canvas, it must be owned,” mut- 
the old seaman ; “ and it must be owned, too, that boy handles 
his boat as if he was thoroughly bred ! D — e, Master Path- 
finder if I believe, after all that has been reported in the matter, 
that this Mister Oh ! the-Deuce got his trade on this bit of 
fresh water.” 

“ He did ; yes, he did. He never saw the ocean, and has 
come by his calling altogether up here on Ontario. I hav(5 often 
thought he has a nat’ral gift, in the way of schooners and 
sloops, and have respected him accordingly. As for treason, 
and lying, and black-hearted vices, friend Cap, Jasper Western 
is as free as the most virtuousest of the Delaware warriors ; and, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


364 

if you crave to see a truly honest man, you must go among that 
tribe to discover him.” 

“ There he comes round ! ” exclaimed the delighted Cap, 
the Scud at this moment filling on her original tack, “ and now 
we shall see what the boy w'ould be at ; he cannot mean to 
keep running up and down these passages like a girl footing 
it through a country-dance ! ” 

The Scud now kept so much away, that for a moment, the two 
observers on the block-house feared Jasper meant to come-to ; 
and the savages in their lairs gleamed out upon her with the 
sort of exultation that the crouching tiger may be supposed to 
feel, as he sees his unconscious victim approach his bed. But 
Jasper had no such intention. Familiar with the shore, and 
acquainted with the depth of water on every part of the island, 
he well knew that the Scud might be run against the bank with 
impunity, and he ventured fearlessly so near that, as he passed 
through the little cove, he swept the two boats of the soldiers 
from their fastenings, and forced them out into the channel, 
towing them with the cutter. As all the canoes were fastened 
to the two Dunham boats, by this bold and successful attempt 
the savages were at once deprived of the means of quitting the 
island, unless by swimming, and they appeared to be instantly 
aware of the very important fact. Rising in a body, they filled 
the air with yells, and poured in a harmless fire. While up in 
this unguarded manner two rifles were discharged by their ad- 
versaries. One came from the summit of the block, and an Iro- 
quois fell dead in his tracks, shot through the brain. The other 
came from the Scud. The last was the piece of the Delaware, 
but, less true than that of his friend, it only maimed an enemy 
for life. The people of the Scud shouted, and the savage sank 
again, to a man, as if it might be into the earth. 

“ That was the Serpent’s voice,” said the Pathfinder, as soon 
as the second piece was discharged. “ I know the crack of his 
rifle as well as I do that of Killdeer. ’Tis a good barrel, though 
not sartain death. Well — well — with Chingachgook and Jasper 
on the water, and you and I in the block, friend Cap, it will be 
hard if we don’t teach these Mingo scamps the rationality of a 
fight ! ” 

All this time the Scud was in motion. As soon as she had 
reached the end of the island, Jasper sent his prizes adrift, 
and they went down before the wind until they stranced on a 
point more than a mile to leeward. He then wore, and came 
stemming the current again, through the other passage. Those 
on the summit of the block could now perceive that something 


THE pathfinder. 


36s 

was in agitation on the deck of the Scud ; and, to their great 
delight, just as the cutter came abreast of the principal cove, 
on the spot where most of the enemy lay, the howitzer, which 
composed her sole armament, was unmasked, and a shower of 
case-shot was sent hissing into the bushes. A bevy of quail 
would not have risen quicker than this unexpected discharge of 
iron hail put up the Iroquois ; when a second savage fell by a 
messenger from Killdeer, and another went limping away by a 
visit from the rifle of Chingachgook ! New covers were imme- 
diately found, however ; and each party seemed to prepare for 
the renewal of this strife in another form. But the appearance 
of June, bearing a white flag, and accompanied by the French 
officer and Muir, stayed the hands of all, and was the forerunner 
of another parley. 

The negotiation that followed was held beneath the block- 
house ; and so near it as at once to put those who were uncov- 
ered completely at the mercy of Pathfinder’s unerring aim. 
Jasper anchored directly abeam ; and the howitzer, too, was 
kept trained upon the negotiators ; so that the besieged and 
their friends, with the exception of the man who held the match, 
had no hesitation about exposing their persons. Chingach- 
gook alone lay in ambush ; more, however, from habit than 
distrust. 

‘‘ You’ve triumphed, Pathfinder,” called out the quarter- 
master, “and Captain Sanglierhas come himself to offer terms. 
You’ll no be denying a brave enemy an honorable retreat, when 
he has fought ye fairly and done all the credit he could to king 
and country. You are too loyal a subject yourself to visit 
loyalty and fidelity with a heavy judgment. I am authorized 
to offer, on the part of the enemy, an evacuation of the island, 
a mutual exchange of prisoners, and a restoration of scalps. 
In the absence of baggage or artillery, little more can be 
done.” ' 

As the conversation was necessarily carried on in a high 
key, both on account of the wind, and on account of the dis- 
tance, all that was said was heard equally by those in the block 
and those in the cutter. 

“ What do you say to that Jasper ? ” called out Pathfinder. 
*• You hear the terms ; shall we let the vagabonds go .? or shall 
we mark them, as they mark their sheep in the settlements, 
that we may know them again } ” 

“ What has befallen Mabel Dunham .? ” demanded the 
young man, with a frown on his handsome face that was visible 


THE PATHFINDER, 


366 

ev'cn to those in the block. “ If a hair of her head has been 
touched, it will go hard with the whole Iroquois tribe ! ” 

“Nay, nay, she is safe below, nursing a dying parent as 
becomes her sex. We owe no grudge on account of the ser- 
geant’s hurt, which comes of lawful warfare ; and as foi 
Mabel ” 

“ She is here I ” exclaimed the girl herself, who had mount- 
ed to the roof the moment she found the direction things were 
taking. “ She is here ; and, in the name of our holy religion, and 
of that God whom we profess to worship in common, let there 
be no bloodshed ! Enough has been spilt already ; and if 
these men will go away. Pathfinder — if they will depart peace- 
ably, Jasper — oh ! do not detain one of them. My poor father 
is approaching his end, and it were better that he should 
draw his last breath in peace with the world. Go, go, French- 
men and Indians ; we are no longer your enemies, and will 
harm none of you.” 

“ Tut, tut. Magnet,” put in Cap, “ this sounds religious, 
perhaps, or like a book of poetry ; but it does not sound like 
common sense. The enemy is just ready to strike ; Jasper is 
anchored with his broadside to bear, and, no doubt with 
springs on his cables ; Pathfinder’s eye and hand are as true as 
the needle, and we shall get prize-money, head-money, and 
honor in the bargain, if you will not interfere for the next half 
hour.” 

“ Well,” said Pathfinder, “ I incline to Mabel’s way of think- 
ing. There Aits been enough bloodshed to answer our pur- 
pose and to serve the king : and as for honor in that meaning, 
it will do better for young ensigns and recruits, then for cool- 
headed, obsarvant, Christian men. There is honor in doing 
what’s right, and unhonor in doing what’s wrong ; and I think 
it wrong to take the life even of a Mingo without a useful ind 
in view, I do ; and right to hear reason at all times. So, 
Lieutenant Muir, let us know what your friends the Frenchers 
and Injius have to say for themselves.” 

“ My friends ! ” said Muir, starting. “ You’ll no be calling 
the king’s enemies my friends, Pathfinder, because the fortune 
of war has thrown me into their hands ! Some of the greatest 
warriors, both of ancient and modern times, have been pris» 
oners of war ; and yon is Master Cap, who can testify whether 
we did not do all that men could devise to escape the calamity.* 

“ Ay — ay,” dryly answered Cap, “ escape is the proper 
word. We ran below and hid ourselves, and so discreetly, that 
we might have remained in the hole to this hour, had it not been 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


3^7 

for the necessity of restowing the bread-lockers. You bur* 
rowed, on that occasion, quartermaster, as handily as a fox ; 

and how the d 1 you knew so well where to fine the spot is 

a matter of wonder to me. A regular skulk on board ship does 
not tail aft more readily when the jib is to be stowed than you 
went into that same hole ! ” 

“ And did ye no follow ? There are moments in a man’s 
life when reason ascends to instinct ” 

“And men descend into holes,” interrupted Cap, laughing 
in his boisterous way, while Pathfinder chimed in his peculiar 
manner. Even Jasper, though still filled with concern for 

Mabel, was obliged to smile. “ They say the d 1 wouldn’t 

make a sailor if he didn’t look aloft, and now it seems he’ll not 
make a soldier if he doesn’t look below ! ” 

This burst of merriment, though it was anything but agree- 
able to Muir, contributed largely toward keeping the peace. 
Cap fancied he had said a thing much better than common, 
and that disposed him to yield his own opinion on the main 
point,.so long as he got the good opinions of his companions 
on his novel claim to be a wit. After a short discussion, all 
the savages on the island was collected in a body, without arms, 
at the distance of a hundred yards from the block, and under 
the gun of the Scud, while Pathfinder descended to the door of 
the block-house, and settled the terms on which the island was 
to be finally evacuated by the enemy. Considering all the 
circumstances, the conditions were not very discreditable to 
either party. The Indians were compelled to give up all their 
arms, even to their knives and tomahawks, as a measure of pre- 
caution, their force being still quadruple that of their foes. The 
French officer. Monsieur Sanglier, as he was usually styled, and 
choose to call himself, remonstrated against this act as one 
likely to reflect more discredit on his command than any other 
part of the affair ; but Pathfinder, who had witnessed one or 
two Indian massacres, and knew how valueless pledges became 
when put in opposition to interest where a savage was con- 
cerned, was obdurate. The second stipulation was of nearly 
the same importance. It compelled Captain Sanglier to give 
up all his prisoners, who had been kept well guarded, in the 
very hole or cave in which Cap and Muir had taken refuge. 
vVhen these men were produced, four of them were found to 
be unhurt ; they had fallen merely to save their lives, a com- 
mon artifice in that species of warfare ; and of the remainder, 
two were so slightly injured as not to be unfit for service. As 
they brought their muskets with them, this addition to his force 


THE PATHFINDEK. 


368 

immediately put Pathfinder at his ease, for, having collected al! 
the arms of the enemy in the block-house, he directed these 
men to take possession of the building, stationing a regular 
sentinel at the door. The remainder of the soldiers were dead, 
the badly wounded having been instantly despatched in order 
to obtain the much coveted scalps. 

As soon as Jasper was made acquainted wfith the terms, and 
the preliminaries had been so far observed as to render it safe 
for him to be absent, he got the Scud under way, and, running 
down to the point where the boats had stranded, he took them 
in tow again, and, making a few stretches, brought them into 
the leeward passage. Here all the savages instantly embarked, 
when Jasper took the boats in tow a third time, and running 
off before the wind, he soon set them adrift quite a mile to 
leeward of the island. The Indians were furnished with but a 
single oar in each boat, to steer with, the young sailor well 
knowing that, by keeping before the wind, they would land on 
the shores of Canada in the course of the morning. 

Captain Sanglier, Arrowhead, and June alone remained 
when the disposition had been made of the rest of the party ; 
the former having certain papers to draw up and sign with 
Lieutenant Muir, who, in his eyes, possessed the virtues which 
are attached to a commission, and the latter preferring, for 
reasons of his own, not to depart in company with his late 
friends, the Iroquois. Canoes were retained for the depar- 
ture of these three when the proper moment should arrive. 

In the meantime, or while the Scud was running down with 
the boats in tow. Pathfinder and Cap, aided by proper assist- 
ants, busied themselves with preparing a breakfast, most of 
the party not having eaten for four and twenty hours. The 
brief space that passed in this manner, before the Scud came 
to again, was little interrupted by discourse, though Pathfinder 
found leisure to pay a visit to the sergeant, to say a few friendly 
words to Mabel, and to give such directions as he thought 
might smooth the passage of the dying man. As for Mabel 
herself, he insisted on her taking some light refreshment, and, 
there no longer existing any motive for keeping it there, he 
had the guard removed from the block, in order that the 
daughter might have no impediment to her attentions to her 
father. These little arrangements completed, our hero re- 
turned to the fire, around which he found all the remainder dt 
the party assembled, including Jasper. 


TH£ PATHFINDER. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


369 


** You saw but sorrow in its waning form,’ 

A working sea remaining from a storm, 

Where now the weary w'aves roll o’er the deep, 

And faintly murmur ere they fall asleep.’’ 

— Drydem. 

Men accustomed to a warfare like that we have been 
describing, are not apt to be much under the influence of the 
tender feelings while still in the field. Notwithstanding their 
habits, howev’er, more than one heart was with Mabel in the 
block, while the incidents we are about to relate were in the 
course of occurrence ; and even the indispensable meal was 
less relished by the hardiest of the soldiers, than it might have 
been had not the sergeant been so near his end. 

As Pathfinder returned from the block, he was met by Muir 
who led him aside in order to hold a private discourse. The 
manner of the qnartermaster had that air of supererogatory 
courtesy about it which almost invariably denotes artifice ; for 
while physiognomy and phrenology are but lame sciences at 
the best, and perhaps lead to as many false as right conclu- 
sions, we hold that there is no more infallible evidence of in- 
sincerity of purpose, short of overt acts, than a face that smiles 
when there is no occasion, and the tongue that is out of mea- 
sure smooth. Muir had much of this manner in common, 
mingled with an apparent frankness, that his Scottish intona- 
tion of voice, Scottish accent, and Scottish modes of expres- 
sion, were singularly adapted to sustain. He owed his prefer- 
ment, indeed, to a long-exercised deference to Lundie and his 
family ; for, while the major himself was much too acute to be 
the dupe of one so much his inferior in real talents and attain- 
ments, most persons are accustomed to make liberal conces- 
sions to the flatterer, even while they distrust his truth, and 
are perfectly aware of .his motives. On the present occasion, 
the contest in skill was between two men as completely the 
opposite of each other, in all the leading essentials of character, 
as very well could be. Pathfinder was as simple, as the quar- 
termaster was practised ; he was as sincere as the other was 
false, and as direct as the last was tortuous. Both were cool 
and calculating, and both were brave, though in different modes 
jind degrees ; Muir never exposing his person except for effect, 
while the guide included fear among the rational passions, oi 


THE PATHFINDER, 


370 

as a sensation to be deferred to only when good might corae ol 
it. 

“ My dearest friend,” Muir commenced, “ for ye’ll be dearef 
to us all, by seventy and sevenfold, after your late conduct, 
than ever ye were, ye’ve just established yourself, in this late 
transaction ! It’s true that they’ll no be making ye a commis- 
sioned officer, for that species of prefairment is not much in 
your line, nor much in your wishes, I’m thinking , but as a 
guide, and a counsellor, and a loyal subject, and an expert 
marksman, yer renown may be said to be full. I doubt if the 
commander-in-chief will carry away with him from America as 
much credit as will fall to yer share, and ye ought just to sit 
down in content, and enjoy yourself for the remainder of yer 
days. Get married, man, without delay, and look to yer pre- 
cious happiness, for ye’ve no occasion to look any longer to 
your glory. Take Mabel Dunham, for Heaven’s sake, to your 
bosom, and ye’ll have both a bonny bride and a bonny reputa- 
tion.” 

“ Why, quartermaster, this is a new piece of advice to come 
from your mouth ! They’ve told me I had a rival in you ! ” 

“ And ye had, man ; and a formidable one, too, I can tell 
ye ! One that has never yet courted in vain, and yet one 
that has courted five times. Lundie twits me with four, 
and I deny the charge ; but he little thinks the truth would 
outdo even his arithmetic ! Yes, yes ; ye had a rival. Path- 
finder, but ye’ve one no longer in me. Ye’ve my hearty 
wishes for yer success* with Mabel, and were the honest 
sergeant likely to survive, ye might rely on my good word with 
him, too, for a certainty.” 

“ I feel your friendship, quartermaster, I feel your friend- 
ship, though I have no great need of any favor with Sergeant 
Dunham, who has long been my friend, I believe we may look 
upon the matter to be as sartain as most things in war time ; 
for, Mabel and her father consenting, the whole 55th couldn’t 
very well put a stop to it. Ah’s me ! the poor father will 
scarcely live to see what his heart has so long been set upon ! ” 

“ But he’ll have the consolation of knowing it will come to 
pass, in dying. Oh ! it’s a great relief, Pathfinder, for the part 
ing spirit to feel certain that the beloved ones left behind will 
be well provided for, after its departure. All the Mistress 
Muirs have duly expressed that sentiment, with their dying 
breaths.” 

“ All your wives, quartermaster, have been likely to feel thi« 
consolation 1 ” 


THE PA THFINDER, 


371 

** Out upon ye, man — I’d no thought ye such a wag ! Well, 
well ; pleasant words make no heart-burnings between auld 
mends. If I cannot espouse Mabel, ye’ll no object to my 
esteeming her, and speaking well of her, and of yoursel’, too, 
on all suitable occasions, and in all companies. But, Path 
finder, ye'll easily understan’ that a poor deevil, who loses such 
a bride, will probably stand in need of some consolation.” 

“Quite likely — quite likely, quartermaster,” returned the 
simple-minded guide ; “ I know the loss of Mabel would be very 
heavy to be borne by lUA^self. It may bear hard on your feel- 
ings to see us married, but the death of the sergeant will be 
likely to put it off, and you’ll have time to think more manfully 
of it, you will,” 

“ I’ll bear up against it ; yes. I’ll bear up against it, though 
my heart strings crack ; and ye might help me, man, by giving 
me something to do. Ye’ll understand that this expedition has 
been of a very peculiar nature, for here am I, bearing the king’s 
commission, just a volunteer, as it might be ; while a mere 
orderly has had the command. I’ve submitted for various rea- 
sons, though my blood has boiled to be in authority while ye 
war’ battling for the honor of the country, and his majesty’s 
rights ” 

“Quartermaster,” interrupted the guide, “you fell so early 
into the inemy’s hands, that your conscience ought to be easily 
satisfied on that score ; so take my advice, and say nothing 
about it.” 

“ That’s just my opinion. Pathfinder ; we’ll all say nothing 
about it. Sergeant Dunham is hors de combat ” 

“ Anan ! ” said the guide. 

“ Why the sergeant can command no longer, and it will 
hardly do to leave a corporal at the head of a victorious party, 
like this ; for flowers that will bloom in a garden will die on a 
heath ; and I was just thinking I would claim the authority that 
belongs to one who holds a lieutenant’s commission. As for 
the men, they’ll no dare to raise any obj action, and as for your- 
sel’, my dear friend, now that ye’ve so much honor, and Mabel, 
and the consciousness of having done yer’ duty, which is more 
precious than all, I expect to find an ally rather than one to 
oppose the plan.” 

“As for commanding the soldiers of the 55th, lieutenant, it 
is your right, I suppose, and no one here will be likely to gain- 
say it ; though you’ve been a prisoner of war, and there are men 
who might stand out ag’in giving up their authority to a prisoner 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


372 

released by their own deeds. Still, no one here will be likelj- 
to say anything hostile to your wishes.” 

“ That’s just it, Pathfinder, and when I come to draw up the 
report of our success against the boats, and the defence of the 
block, together with the general operations, including the cap* 
itulation, ye’ll no find any omission of your claims and merits.’* 

“ Tut, for my claims and merits, quartermaster ! Lundie 
knows what I am in the forest, and what I am in the fort ; and 
the general knows better than he. No fear of me ; tell your 
own story, only taking care to do justice by Mabel’s father, who, 
in one sense,, is the commanding officer at this very moment.’* 

Muir expressed his entire satisfaction at this arrangement, 
as well as his determination to do justice by all, when the two 
went to the group that was assembled round the fire. Here the 
quartermaster began, for the first time since leaving Oswego, to 
assume some of the authority that might properly be supposed 
to belong to his rank. Taking the remaining corporal aside, 
he distinctly told that functionary that he must in future be re* 
garded as one holding the king’s commission, and directed him 
to acquaint his subordinates with the new state of things. This 
change in the dynasty was effected without any of the usual 
symptoms of a revolution ; for, as all well understood the lieu* 
tenant’s legal claims to command, no one felt disposed to dis- 
pute his orders. For reasons best known to themselves, Lundie 
and the quartermaster had, originally, made a different disposi- 
tion, and now, for reasons of his own, the latter had seen fit to 
change it. This was reasoning enough for soldiers, though the 
hurt received by Sergeant Dunham would have sufficiently ex- 
plained the circumstance had an explanation been required. 

All this time Captain Sanglier was looking after his own 
breakfast with the resignation of a philosopher, the coolness 
of a veteran, the ingenuity and science of a Frenchman, and the 
voracity of an ostrich. This person had now been in the colony 
some thirty years, having left France in some such situation in 
his own army as Muir filled in the 55th. An iron constitution, 
perfect obduracy of feeling, a certain address well suited to 
manage savages, and an indomitable courage, had early pointed 
him out to the commander-in-chief as a suitable agent to be 
employed in directing the military operations of his Indian allies. 
In this capacity, then, he had risen to the titular rank of cap- 
tain ; and with his promotion had acquired a portion of the 
habits and opinions of his associates, with a facility and an adap- 
tation of self that are thought, in this part of the world, to be 
peculiar to his countrymen. He had often led parties of the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


373 

l^i^oquois in their predatory expeditions ; and his conduct on 
such occasions exhibited the contradictory results of both alle* 
viating the misery produced by this species of warfare, and of 
augmenting it by the broader views and greater resources of 
civilization. In other words, he planned enterprises that, in 
their importance ^nd consequences, much exceeded the usual 
policy of the Indians, and then stepped in to lessen some of 
the evils of his own creating. In short, he was an adventurer 
whom circumstances had thrown into a situation where the cal- 
lous qualities of men of his class might really show themselves 
for good or for evil ; and he was not of a character to baffle 
fortune by any ill-timed squeamishness on the score of early 
impressions, or to trifle with her liberality by unnecessarily 
provoking her frowns through wanton cruelty. Still, as his 
name was unavoidably connected with many of the excesses 
committed by his parties, he was generally considered, in the 
A.merican Provinces, a wretch who delighted in bloodshed, and 
who found his greatest happiness in tormenting the helpless and 
the innocent ; and the name of Sanglier, which was a sobriquet 
of his own adopting, or of Flint Heart, as he was usually termed 
on the borders, had got to be as terrible to the women and 
children of that part of the country as those of Butler and Brandt 
became at a later day. 

The meeting between Pathfinder and Sanglier bore some 
resemblance to that celebrated interview between Wellington 
and Blucher, which has been so often and graphically told. It 
took place at the fire ; and the parties stood earnestly regard- 
ing each other for more than a minute without speaking. Each 
felt that in the other he saw a formidable foe ; and each felt, 
while he ought to treat the other with the manly liberality due 
to a warrior, that there was little in common betw'een them, in 
the way of character, as well as of interests. One served for 
money and preferment ; the other, because his life had been 
cast in the wilderness, and the land of his birth needed his arm 
and experience. The desire of rising above his present situa- 
tion never disturbed the tranquillity of Pathfinder ; nor had he 
ever known an ambitious thought, as ambition usually betrays 
itself, until he became acquainted with Mabel. Since then, 
indeed, distrust of himself, reverence for her, and the wish to 
place her in a situation above that which he then filled, had 
caused him some uneasy moments, but the directness and sim- 
plicity of his character had early afforded the required relief; 
and he soon came to feel, that the woman who would not hesi- 
tate to accept him for her husband, would not scruple to shar« 


THE PA THFJNDER. 


374 

his fortunes, however humble. He respected Sanglier as a 
brave warrior ; and he had far too much of that liberality which 
is the result of practical knowledge, to believe half of what he 
had heard to his prejudice ; for, the most bigoted and illiberal 
on every subject are usually those who know nothing about it j 
but he could not approve of his selfishness, cold-blooded calcu* 
lations, and, least of all, of the manner in which he forgot 
his “white gifts,” to adopt those that were pure'y “ red.” On 
the other hand, Pathfinder was a riddle to Captain Sanglier, 
The latter could not comprehend the other’s motives ; he had 
often heard of his disinterestedness, justice, and truth ; and, in 
several instances, they had led him into grave errors, on that 
principle by which a frank and open-mouthed diplomatist is 
said to keep his secrets better than one that is close-mouthed 
and wily. 

After the two heroes had gazed at each other, in the man- 
ner mentioned, Monsieur Sanglier touched his cap ; for the 
rudeness of a border life had not entirely destroyed the cour- 
tesy of manner he had acquired in youth, nor extinguished 
that appearance of bo7ihomie which seems inbred in a French- 
man. 

“ Monsieur le Pathfindair,” he said, with a very decided ac* 
cent, though with a friendly smile, “ un militaire honor le couragt 
et la loyaute. You speak Iroquois ” 

“ Ay, I understand the language of the riptyles, and can 
get along with it, if there’s occasion,” returned the literal and 
truth-telling guide ; “ but it’s neither a tongue nor a tribe to 
my taste. Wherever you find the Mingo blood, in my opinion, 
Master Flinty-heart, you find a knave. Well, I’ve "seen you 
often, though it was in battle ; and, I must say, it was always 
in the van. You must know most of our bullets by sight ? ” 

“ Nevvair, sair, your own ; une balk from your honorable 
hand be sartaine deat’. You kill my best warrior on some 
island.” 

“ That may be — that may be — though I dare say, if the 
truth was known, they would turn out to be great rascals. No 
offence to you. Master Flinty-heart, but you keep desperate 
evil company.” 

“Yes, sair,” returned the Frenchman, who, bent on saying 
that which was courteous himself, and comprehending with 
difficulty, was disposed to think he received a compliment— 
“ you too good. But, tm brave always comme ca. What that 
mean — ha ! — what that jeune homme do ? ” 

The hand and eye of Captain Sanglier directed the look ol 


THE PATHFINDER. 


375 

Pathfinder to the opposite side of the fire, where Jasper, just 
at that moment, had been rudely seized by two of the soldiers, 
who were binding his arms under the direction of Muir. 

“ What does that mean, indeed ? ” cried the guide, stepping 
farward, and shoving the two subordinates away with a power 
of muscle that would not be denied. “ Who has the heart to 
do this to Jasper Eau-douce ; and who has the boldness to do 
it before my eyes ? ” 

“ It is by my orders. Pathfinder,” answered the quarter- 
master ; “ and I command it on my own responsibility. Ye’ll 
no tak’ on yourself to dispute the legality of orders given by 
one who bears the king’s commission to the king’s soldiers t ” 

“ I’d dispute the king’s words if they came from the king’s 
own mouth, did they say that Jasper desarves this. Has not 
the lad just saved all our scalps ? — taken us from defeat, and 
given us victory No, no. Lieutenant ; if this is the first use 
that you make of your authority, I for one will not respect it.” 

“ This savors a little of insubordination,” answered Muir ; 
“but we can bear much from Pathfinder. It is true this Jasper 
has seemed to serve us in this affair ; but we ought not to over- 
look past transactions. Did not Major Duncan himself de- 
nounce him to Sergeant Dunham, before we left the post 1 
Have we not seen sufficient with our own eyes to make sure of 
having been betrayed ? And is it not natural, and almost nec- 
essary to believe that this young man has been the traitor ? 
Ah ! Pathfinder, ye’ll no be makin’ yourself a great statesman 
or a great captain, if you put too much faith in appearances. 
Lord bless me ! — Lord bless me ! if I do not believe, could the 
truth be come at, as you often say yourself. Pathfinder, that 
hypocrisy is a more common vice than even envy; and that’s 
the bane of human nature.” 

Captain Sanglier shrugged his shoulders ; then he looked 
earnestly from Jasper toward the quartermaster, and from the 
quartermaster toward Jasper. 

“ I care not for your envy or your hypocrisy, or even for 
your human natur’,” returned Pathfinder. “Jasper Eau-douce 
is my friend ; Jasper Eau-douce is a brave lad, and an honest 
lad, and a loyal lad ; and no man of the 55th shall lay hands 
on him short of Lundie’s own orders, while I’m in the way to 
prevent it. You may have authority over your soldiers, but 
you have none over Jasper or me. Master Muir.” 

“ Bon'^ ejaculated Sanglier ; the sound partaking equally 
of the energies of the throat and of the nose. 

“ Will ye no hearken to reason, Pathfinder ? Ye’ll no b« 


THE PATHFINDER. 


576 

forgetting our suspicions and judgments ; and here is anothel 
circumstance to augment and aggravate them all. You can 
see this little bit of bunting ; well, where should it be found 
but by Mabel Dunham, on the branch of a tree, on this very 
island, just an hour or so before the attack of the enemy, and 
if ye’ll be at the trouble to look at the fly of the Scud’s ensign, 
ye’ll just say that the cloth has been cut from out it. Circum- 
stantial evidence was never stronger.” 

“ Ma foi^ c'est un pen fort^ cecip growled Sanglier, between 
his teeth. 

“ Talk to me of no ensigns and signals, when I know the 
heart,” continued the Pathfinder. “Jasper has the gift of 
honesty ; and it is too rare a gift to be trifled with like a 
Mingo’s conscience. No, no ; off hands, or we shall see which 
can make the stoutest battle — you, and your men of the 55th; 
or the Sarpent here, and Killdeer, with Jasper and his crew. 
You overrate your force. Lieutenant Muir, as much as you un- 
derrate Eau-douce’s truth.” 

“ Tres bon ! ” 

“ Well, if I must speak plainly, Pathfinder, I e’en must. 
Captain Sanglier here, and Arrowhead, this brave Tuscarora, 
have both informed me that this unfortunate boy is the traitor. 
After such testimony you can no longer oppose my right to 
correct him, as well as the necessity of the act.” 

Sceleratp muttered the Frenchman. 

“ Captain Sanglier is a brave soldier, and will not gainsay 
the conduct of an honest sailor,” put in Jasper. “ Is there any 
traitor here. Captain Flinty-heart ? ” 

“ Ay,” added Muir, “ let him speak out, then, since ye wish 
it, unhappy youth, that the truth may be known. I only hope 
that ye may escape the last punishment when a court will be 
sitting on your misdeeds. How is it, Captain — do ye or do ye 
not see a traitor among us t ” 

“ Oui — yes, sair — bien snrP 

“ Too much lie ! ” said Arrowhead, in a voice of thunder, 
striking the breast of Muir with the back of his own hand, in a 
sort of ungovernable gesture. “Where my warriors 1 — where 
Yengeese scalp.? Too much lie?” 

Muir wanted not for personal courage, nor for a certain 
sense of personal honor. The violence which had been in- 
tended only for a gesture he mistook for a blow — for con- 
science was suddenly aroused within him — and he stepped back 
a pace, extending a hand toward a gun. His face was livid 
with rage, and his countenance expressed the fell intention of 


THE PATHFINDER, 


377 

his heart. But Arrowhead was too quick for him. With a 
wild glance of the eye, the Tuscarora looked about him ; then, 
thrusting a hand beneath his own girdle, he drew forth a con- 
cealed knife, and, in the twinkling of an eye, buried it in the 
body of the quartermaster to the handle. As the latter fell at 
his feet, gazing into his face with the vacant stare of one sur- 
prised by death, Sanglier took a pinch of snuff, and said in a 
ca\m voice : 

“ Voila r affaire finie — mais ” — shrugging his shoulders “ ce 
n 'est qu'un scelerat de moms” 

The act was too sudden to be prevented and when Arrow- 
head, uttering a yell, bounded into the bushes, the white men 
were too confounded to follow. Chingachgook, however, was 
more collected ; and the bushes had scarcely closed on the 
passing body of the Tuscarora, than they were again opened 
by that of the Delaware in full pursuit. 

Jasper Western spoke French fluently, and the words and 
manner of Sanglier struck him. 

“ Speak Monsieur,” he said, in English, “ am I the traitor ? *’ 

“ Le voila ” — answered the cool Frenchman — “ dat is our 
tspion — our agent — our friend — ma foi — detait un grand sceleral 
. — void.” 

While speaking, Sanglier bent over the dead body, and 
thrust a hand into the pocket of the quartermaster, out of which 
he drew a purse. Emptying the contents on the ground, sev- 
eral double-louis rolled towards the soldiers, who were not slow 
in picking them up. Casting the purse from him, in contempt, 
the soldier of fortune turned toward the soup he had been pre- 
paring with so much care, and, finding it to his liking, he began 
to break his fast, with an air of indifference that the most sto- 
ical Indian warrior might have envied. 


CHAPTER XXVII. 


The only amaranthine flower on earth 
Is virtue ; th’ only lasting treasure, truth.” 

— COWPER. 


The reader must imagine some of the occurrences that fol- 
lowed the sudden death of Muir. While his body was in the 
hands of his soldiers, who had laid it decently aside and cov- 
ered it with a great coat, Chingachgook silently resumed his 
place at the fire, and both Sanglier and Pathfinder remarked 


THE PATHFINDER, 


37S 

that he carried a fresh and bleeding scalp at his girdle. Na 
one asked any questions ; and the former, although perfectly 
satisfied that Arrowhead had fallen, manifested neither curios- 
ity nor feeling. He continued calmly eating his soup, as if the 
meal had been tranquil as usual. There was something of 
pride, and of an assumed indifference to fate, imitated from the 
Indians, in all this ; but there was more that really resulted 
from practice, habitual self-command, and constitutional hardi 
hood. With Pathfinder, the case was a little different in feel* 
ing, though much the same in appearance. He disliked Muir, 
whose smooth-tongued courtesy was little in accordance with 
his own frank and ingenious nature ; but he had been shocked 
at his unexpected and violent death, though accustomed to 
similar scenes, and he had been surprised at the exposure of 
his treachery. With a view to ascertain the extent of the latter, 
as soon as the body was removed he began to question the cap- 
tain on the subject. The latter, having no particular motive 
for secrecy, now that his agent was dead, in the course of the 
breakfast revealed the following circumstances, which will sei ve 
to clear up some of the minor incidents of our tale. 

Soon after the 55th appeared on the frontiers, Muir had 
volunteered his services to the enemy. In making his offer he 
boasted of his intimacy with Lundie, and of the means it af- 
forded of furnishing more accurate and important information 
than usual. His terms had been accepted, and Monsieur Sang 
Her had several interviews with him in the vicinity of the fort, 
at Oswego, and had actually passed one entire night secreted 
in the garrison. Arrowhead, however, was the usual channel 
of communication, and the anonymous letter to Major Duncan 
had been originally written by Muir, transmitted to Frontenac, 
copied, and sent back by the Tuscarora, who was returning 
from that errand when captured by the Scud. It is scarcely 
necessary to add, that Jasper was to be sacrificed in order to 
conceal the quartermaster’s treason, and that the position of 
the island had been betrayed to the enemy by the latter. An 
extraordinary compensation, that which was found in his purse, 
had induced him to accompany the party under Sergeant Dun- 
ham, in order to give the signals that were to bring on the at- 
tack. The disposition of Muir toward the sex was a natural 
weakness, and he would have married Mabel or any one else 
who would accept his hand; but his admiration of her was in a 
great degree feigned, in order that he might have an excuse for 
accompanying the party, without sharing in the responsibility 
of its defeat, or incurring the risk of having no other strong 


THE PATHFINDER. 


379 

and seemingly sufficient motive. Much of this was known to 
Captain Sanglier, particularly the part in connection with Ma* 
bel ; and he did not fail to let his auditors into the whole se- 
cret, frequently laughing in a sarcastic manner, as he revealed 
the different expedients of the luckless quartermaster. 

“ Totichez-la,^^ said the cold-blooded partisan, holding out 
his sinewy hand to Pathfinder, when he ended his explanations 

you be honnete^ and dat is beaucoup. We tak’ de spy, as 
vve tak’ la medicine^ for de good ; mais je les deteste / 2'ouchez- 
la.” 

“ I’ll shake youf hand, captain, I will, for you’re a lawful 
and nat’ral inimy,” returned Pathfinder, “ and a manful one, 
but the body of the quartermaster shall never disgrace English 
ground. I did intend to carry it back to Lundie, that he might 
play his bagpipes over it ; but now it shall lie here on the spot 
where he acted his villainy, and have his own treason for a 
headstone. Captain Flinty-heart, I suppose this consorting 
with traitors is a part of a soldier’s regular business ; but I tell 
you honestly, it is not to my liking, and I’d rather it should be 
you than I who had this affair on his conscience. What an 
awful sinner ! To plot right and left ag’in countr}^ friends, 
and the Lord ! Jasper, boy, a word with you aside for a 
single minute.” 

Pathfinder now led the young man apart, and squeezing 
his hand with the tears in his own eyes he continued : 

“You know me, Eau-douce, and I know you,” he said, “and 
this news has not changed my opinion of you in any manner. I 
never believed their tales, though it looked solemn at one minute, 
I will own ; yes, it did look solemn and it made me feel solemn, 
too. I never suspected you for a minute, for I know your gifts 
don’t lie that-a-way ; but I must own I didn’t suspect the 
quartermaster neither.” 

“ And he holding his majesty’s commission. Pathfinder ! ” 

“ It isn’t so much that, Jasper Western ; it isn’t so much 
that. He held a commission from God to act right, and to 
deal fairly with his fellow-creatur’s, and he has failed awfully 
in his duty ! ” 

“ To think of his pretending love for one like Mabel, too, 
when he felt none ! ” 

“That was bad, sartainly ; the fellow must have Mingo 
blood in his veins. The man that deals unfairly by a woman 
can be but a mongrel, lad; for the Lord has made them help- 
less on purpose that we may gain their love by kindness and 
sarvices. Here is the sergeant, poor man, on his dying bed ; 


THE PA THFINDER, 


380 

he has given me his daughter for a wife, and Mabel, dear girl, 
she has consented to it ; and it makes me feel that I have two 
welfares to look after, two natures to care for, and two hearts 
to gladden. Ah’s me ! Jasper; I sometimes feel that I’m not 
good enough for that sweet child ! ” 

Eau-douce had nearly gasped for breath when he first heard 
this intelligence ; and, though he succeeded in suppressing any 
other outward signs of agitation, his cheek was blanched 
nearly to the paleness of death. Still he found means to an- 
swer, not only with firmness, but with energy, — 

“ Say not so. Pathfinder ; you are good enough for a queen.” 
“ Ay, ay, boy, according to your ideas of my goodness ; 
that is to say — I can kill a deer, or even a Mingo at need, with 
any man on the lines ; or I can follow a path with as true aii 
eye, or read the stars, when others do not understand them. 
No doubt, no doubt, Mabel will have venison enough, and fish 
enough, and pigeons enough ; but will she have knowledge 
enough, and will she have ideas enough, and pleasant conver- 
sation enough, when life comes to drag a little, and each of us 
begins to pass for our true value ? ” 

“ If you pass for your value. Pathfinder, the greatest lady 
in the land would be happy with you. On that head, you have 
no reason to feel afraid.” 

“ Now, Jasper, I dare to s,2iy you think so — nay, I kn 07 v you 
do ; for it is nat’ral and according to friendship, for people to 
look over-favorably at them they love. Yes, yes ; if I had to 
marry you, boy, I should give myself no consarn about being 
well looked upon, for you have always shown a disposition to 
see me and all I do with friendly eyes. But a young gall, 
after all, must wish to marry a man that is nearer to her own 
age and fancies, than to have one old enough to be her father, 
and rude enough to frighten her. I wonder, Jasper, that Mabel 
never took a fancy to you, now, rather than settling her mind 
on me ! ” 

“ Take a fancy to me. Pathfinder ! ” returned the young 
man, endeavoring to clear his voice without betraying himself. 
“ What is there about me to please such a girl as Mabel Dun- 
ham ? I have all that you find fault with in yourself, with none 
of that excellence that makes even the generals respect you.” 

“ Well — well — it’s all chance, say what we will about it. 
Here I have journeyed and guided through the woods, female 
after female, and consorted with them in the garrisons, and 
never have I even felt an inclination for any until I saw Mabel 
Dunham. It is true the poor sergeant first set me to thinking 


THE PATHFINDER, 381 

about his daughter ; but, after we got a little acquainted like, 
I’d no need of being spoken to, to think of her night and day 
I’m tough, Jasper; yes. I’m very tough; and I’m resolute 
enough, as you all know ; and yet I do think u would quite 
break me down now, to lose Mabel Dunham ! ” 

“We will talk no more of it. Pathfinder,” said Jasper, re* 
turning his friend’s squeeze of the hand, and moving back to* 
ward the fire, though slowly, and in the- manner of one who 
cared little where he went ; “ we will talk no more of it. You 
are worthy of Mabel, and Mabel is worthy of you — you like 
Mabel, and Mabel likes you — her father has chosen you for 
her husband, and no one has a right to interfere. As for the 
quartermaster, his feigning love for Mabel is worse even than 
his treason to the king ! ” 

By this time they were so near the fire, that it was necessary 
to change the conversation. Luckily, at that instant. Cap, who 
had been in the block in company with his dying brother-in-law, 
and who knew nothing of what had passed since the capitula- 
tion, now appeared, walking with a meditative and melancholy 
air toward the group. Much of that hearty dogmatism that im- 
parted even to his ordinary air and demeanor an appearance 
of something like contempt for all around him, had disappeared 
and he seemed thoughtful, if not meek. 

“ This death, gentlemen,” he said, when he had got suffici- 
ently near, “ is a melancholy business, make the best of it. 
Now, here is Sergeant Dunham, a very good soldier, I make no 
question, about to slip his cable, and yet he holds on to the bitter 
end of it, as if he was determined it should never run out of 
the hawse-hole, and all because he loves his daughter, it seems 
to me. For my part, when a friend is really under the neces- 
sity of making a long journey, I always wish him well and 
happily off.” 

“ You wouldn’t kill the sargeant before his time ?” Path- 
finder reproachfully answered. “ Life is sweet, even to the 
aged ; and, for that matter, I’ve known some that seemed to 
set much store by it, when it got to be of the least value.” 

Nothing had been further from Cap’s real thoughts than 
the wish to hasten his brother-in-law’s end. He had found him- 
self embarrassed with the duties of smoothing a deathbed, and 
all he had meant was to express a sincere desire that the ser- 
geant was happily rid of doubt and suffering. A little shocked, 
therefore, at the interpretation that had been put on his words, 
he rejoined with some of the asperity of the man, though 


THE PATHFINDER, 


382 

rebuked by a consciousness of not having done his own wishes 
justice : 

“ You are too old and too sensible a person, Pathfinder,” 
he said, “ to fetch a man up with a surge, when he is paying 
out his ideas in distress, as it might be. Sergeant Dunham is 
both my brother-in-law and my friend — that is to say, as in- 
timate a friend as a soldier well can be with a seafaring man, 
and I respect and honor him accordingly. I make no doubt, 
moreover, that he has lived such a life as becomes a man, and 
there can be no great harm, after all, in wishing any one well 
berthed in heaven. Well ! we are mortal the best of us, that 
you’ll not deny ; and it ought to be a lesson not to feel pride in 
our strength and beaut}^ Where is the quartermaster. Pathfind- 
er ? It is proper he should come and have a parting word 
with the poor sergeant, who is only going a little before us.” 

“ You have spoken more truth. Master Cap, than you’ve 
been knowing to, all this time ; in which there is no great won- 
der, howsoever ; mankind as often telling biting truths when 
they least mean it, as at any other time. You might have gone 
further, notwithstanding, and said that we are mortal, the worst 
of us, which is quite as true, and, a good deal more wholesome 
than saying that we are mortal, the best of us. As for the 
quartermaster’s coming to speak a parting word to the sergeant, 
it is quite out of the question, seeing that he has gone ahead 
and that too with little parting notice to himself, or to any one 
else.” 

“ You are not quite as clear as common in your language, 
Pathfinder. I know that we ought all to have solemn thoughts 
on these occasions, but I see no use in speaking in parables.” 

“ If my words are not plain, the idee is. In short. Master 
Cap, while Sergeant Dunham has been perparing himself for a 
long jorney, like a conscientious and honest man, as he is, de- 
liberately and slowly, the quartermaster has started, in a hurry, 
before him ; and, although it is a matter on which it does not 
become me to be very positive, I give it as my opinion that they 
travel such different roads that they will never meet.” 

“ Explain yourself, my friend,” said the bewildered seaman, 
looking around him in search of Muir, whose absence began to 
excite his distrust. “ I see nothing of the quartermaster, but I 
think him too much of a man to run aw'ay, now that the victory 
is gained. If the fight were ahead, instead of in our wake, the 
case would be altered.” 

“ There lies all that is left of him, beneath that greatcoat,” 
returned the guide, who then briefly related the manner of the 


THE PATHFINDER. 


3S3 

/ieutenant’s death. “ The Tuscarora was as venomous in his 
blow, as a rattler, though he failed to give the warning,'' 
continued Pathfinder. “ I've seen many a desperate fight, and 
several of these sudden outbreaks of savage temper ; but 
never, before, did I see a human soul quit the body more un- 
expectedly, or at a worse moment for the hopes of the dying 
man. His breath was stopped with the lie on his lips, and the 
spirit might be said to have passed away in the very ardor of 
wickedness.” 

Cap listened with a gaping mouth, and he gave too or three 
violent hems as the other concluded, like one who distrusted 
his own respiration. 

“ This is an uncertain and uncomfortable life of yours. Mas- 
ter Pathfinder, what between the fresh water and the savages,” 
he said, “ and the sooner I get quit of it, the higher will be my 
opinion of myself. Now you mention it, I will say that the man 
ran for that berth in the rocks, when the enemy first bore down 
upon us, with a sort of instinct that I thought surprising in an 
officer ; but I was in too great a hurry to follow, to log the 
whole matter accurately. God bless me — God bless me ! a 
traitor do you say and ready to sell his country, and to a bloody 
Frenchman, too ? ” 

‘‘To sell anything — country, soul, body, Mabel, and all 
our scalps ; and no ways particular. I’ll engage, as to the pur- 
chaser. The countrymen of Captain Flinty -heart, here, were 
the paymasters this time.” 

“ Just like ’em ; ever ready to buy when they can’t thrasn, 
and to run when they can’t do neither.” 

Monsieur Sanglier lifted his cap with ironical gravity, and 
acknowledged the compliment with an expression of polite 
contempt that was altogether lost on its insensible subject. But 
Pathfinder had too much native courtesy, and was far too just 
minded, to allow the attack to go unnoticed. 

“ Well — well,” he interposed — “ to my mind there is no 
great difference between an Englishman and a Frenchman a’ter 
all. They talk different tongues, and live under different kings, 
I will allow ; but both are human, and feel like human beings, 
when there is occasion for it. If a Frenchman is sometimes 
skeary, so is an Englishman ; and as for running away, why a 
man will now and then do it, as well as a horse, let him come 
of what people he may.” 

Captain Flinty-heart, as Pathfinder called him, made another 
obeisance ; but this time the smile was friendly, and not ironical^ 
for he felt that the intention was good, whatever might have 


THE PATHFINDER. 


384 

been the mode of expressing it. Two philosophical, howevet 
to heed v/hat a man like Cap might say or think, he finished 
his breakfast without allowing his attention to be again diverted 
from that important pursuit. 

“My business here was principally with the quartermaster/* 
Cap continued, as soon as he had done regarding the Frencfi 
man’s pantomime. “ The sergeant must be near his end \ 
and I have thought he might wish to say something to his 
successor in authority, before he finally departed. It is too 
late, it would seem ; and, as you say, Pathfinder, the lieutenant 
has truly gone before.” 

“ That he has, though on a different path. As for authority, 
I suppose the corporal has now a right to command what’s 
left of the 55th, though a small and worried, not to say fright- 
ened party, it is. But, if anything needs to be done, the 
chances are greatly in favor of my being called on to do it. I 
suppose, however, we have only to bury our dead and set fire 
to the block and the huts, for they stand in the inimy’s territory, 
by position, if not by law, and must not be left for their con- 
venience. Our using them again is out of the question ; for 
now the Frenchers know where the island is to be found, it 
would be like thrusting the hand into a wolf-trap, with our 
eyes wide open. This part of the work, the Sarpent and I will 
see to ; for we are practiced in retreats as in advances.” 

“ All that is very well, my good friend : and now for my 
poor brother-in-law ; though he is a soldier, we cannot let him 
slip without a word of consolation, and a leave-taking, in my 
judgment. This has been an unlucky affair, on every tack, 
though I suppose it is what one had a right to expect, con- 
sidering the state of the times, and the nature of the navigation. 
We must make the best of it, and try to help the worthy man 
to unmoor, without straining his messengers. Death is a cir> 
cumstance, after all. Master Pathfinder, and one of a very 
general character, too, seeing that we must all submit to iq 
sooner or later.” 

“You say truth, you say truth; and for that reason I hold 
it to be wise to be always ready. I’ve often thought, Saltwater, 
that he is happiest who has the least to leave behind him, when 
the summons comes. Now, here am I, a hunter and a scout, 
and a guide, although I do not own a foot of land on ’arth, yet 
do I enjoy and possess more than the great Albany Patroon. 
With the heavens over my head to keep me in mind of the last 
great hunt, and the dried leaves beneath my feet, I tramp over 
the ground as freely as if I was its- lord and owner: and whal 


THE PATHFINDER, 


385 

more need heart desire ? I do not say that I love nothing that 
belongs to ’arth ; for I do, though not much, unless it might 
be Mabel Dunham, that I can’t carry with me. I have some 
pups at the higher fort, that I valy considerable, though they 
are too noisy for warfare, and so we are compelled to live 
separate for a while ; and then, I think, it would grieve me to 
part with Killdeer ; but I see no reason why we should not be 
buried in the same grave, for we are, as near as can be, of the 
same length — six feet, to a hair’s breadth ; but, bating these, 
and a pipe that the Sarpent gave, and a few tokens received 
from travellers, all of which might be put in a pouch, and laid 
under my head, when, the order comes to march, I shall be 
ready at a minute’s warning ; and, let me tell you. Master 
Cap, that’s wdiat I call a circumstance, too ! ” 

“ ’Tis just so with me,” answered the sailor, as the two 
walked towards the block, too much occupied with their respec- 
tive morality, to remember, at the moment, the melancholy 
errand they were on — that’s just my way of feeling and reason- 
ing. How often have I felt, when near shipwreck, the relief of 
not owning the craft ! * If she goes,’ I have said to myself, 

* why my life goes with her, but not my property, and there’s 
great comfort in that/ I’ve discovered in the course of boxing 
about the world, from the Horn to Cape North, not to speak of 
this run on a bit of fresh-water, that if a man has a few dollars, 
and puts them in a chest under lock and key, he is pretty 
certain to fasten up his heart in the same till ; and so I carry 
pretty much all I own in a belt round my body, in order, as I 

say, to keep the vitals in the right place. D e. Pathfinder, 

if I think a man without a heart any better that a fish with a 
hole in his air-bag.’ 

“ I don’t know how that may be. Master Cap, but a man with- 
out a conscience is but a poor creatur’, take my word for it, 
as any one will discover who has to do with a Mingo. I trouble 
myself little with dollars or half-joes, for these are the favoryte 
coin in this part of the world ; but I can easily believe, by what 
I’ve seen of mankind, that if a man has a chest filled with either, 
he may be said to lock up his heart in the same box. I once 
hunted for two summers during the last peace, and I collected 
so much peltry that I found my right feelings giving way to a 
craving after property ; and if I have consarn in marrying 
Mabel, it is that I may get to love such things too well, in 
order to make her comfortable.” 

‘‘ You’re a philosopher, that’s clear. Pathfinder : and I 
don’t know but you’re a Christian ! ” 


THE PA THFlkDER, 


386 

I should be out of humor with the man that gainsayed 
the last, Master Cap. I have not been Christianized by the 
Moravians, like so many of the Delawares, it is true ; but I 
hold to Christianity and white gifts. With me it is as oncredit- 
able for a white man not to be a Christian, as it is for a red* 
skin not to believe in his happy hunting-grounds ; indeed, after 
allowing for difference in traditions, and some variations about 
the manner in which the spirit wall be occupied after death, 
I hold that a good Delaware is a good Christian, though he 
never saw a Moravian ; and a good Christian, a good Delaware, 
so far as Natur’ is consarned. The Sarpent and I talk these 
matters over often, for he has a hankerin’ after Christi- 
anity ” 

“ The d^ — 1 he has ! ” interrupted Cap. “ And what does 
he intend to do in a church with all the scalps he takes ? ” 

“ Don’t run away with a false idee, friend Cap, don’t run 
away with a false idee. These things are only skin-deep, and 
all depend on edication and nat’ral gifts. Look around you at 
mankind, and tell me why you see a red warrior here, a black 
one there, and white armies in another place ? All this, and a 
great deal more of the same kind that I could point out, has been 
ordered for some ’special purpose ; and it is not for us to fly in 
the face of facts and deny their truth. No — no — each color 
has its gifts, and its laws, and its traditions ; and one is not 
to condemn another because he does not exactly comprehend 
it.” 

“ You must have read a great deal. Pathfinder, to see things 
as clear as this,” returned Cap who was not a little mystified 
by his companion’s simple creed — “ It’s all as plain as day to 
me now, though I must say I never fell in with these opinions 
before. What denomination do you belong to, my friend ? ” 

“ Anan t ” 

“ What sect do you hold out for t What particular church 
do you fetch up in 

“ Look about you, and judge for yourself. I’m in church 
now ; I eat in church, drink in church, sleep in church. The 
’arth is the temple of the Lord, and I wait on Him hourly, daily, 
without ceasing, I humbly hope. No — no — I’ll not deny my 
blood and color, but am Christian born, and shall die in the 
same faith. The Moravians tried me hard ; and one of the 
king’s chaplains has had his say, too, though that’s a class no 
ways strenuous on such matters ; and a missionary sent from 
Rome talked much with me as I guided him through the forest 
during the last peace ; but I’ve had one answer for them all-- 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


387 

I’m a Christian already, and want to be neither Moravian, nor 
Churchman, nor Papist. No — no — I’ll not deny my brith 
and blood.” 

“ I think a word from you might lighten the sergeant over 
the shoals of death. Master Pathfinder. He has no one with 
him but poor Mabel, and she, you know, besides being his 
daughter, is but a girl and a child, after all.” 

“ Mabel is feeble in body, friend Cap, but, in matters of this 
natur’ I doubt if she may not be stronger than most men. But 
Sergeant Dunham is my friend, and he is your brother-in-law ; 
so now the press of fighting and maintaining our rights is over, 
it is fitting we should both go and witness his departure. I’ve 
stood by many a dying man. Master Cap,” continued Path- 
finder, who had a besetting propensity to enlarge on his expe- 
rience, stopping and holding his companion by a button — “ I’ve 
stood by many a dying man’s side, and seen his last gasp, and 
heard his last breath ; for when the hurry and tumult of the battle 
is over, it is good to bethink us of the misfortune, and it is re- 
markable to witness how differently human natur’ feels at such 
solemn moments. Some go their way as stupid and ignorant 
as if God had never given them reason, and an accountable 
state ; while others quit us rejoicing like men who leave heavy 
burdens behind them. I think that the mind sees clearly at 
such moments, my friend, and that past deeds stand thick be- 
fore the recollection.” 

“ I’ll engage they do. Pathfinder. I have witnessed some- 
thing of this myself, and I hope I’m the better man for it. I 
remember once that I thought my own time had come, and the 
log was overhauled with a diligence I did not think myself cai> 
able of until that moment. I’ve not been a very great sinner, 
friend Pathfinder ; that is to say, never on a large scale ; though, 
I dare say, if the truth were spoken, a considerable amount of 
small matters might be raked up against me, as well as against 
another man ; but then I’ve never committed piracy nor high 
treason, nor arson, nor any of them sort of things. As to 
smuggling, and the like of that, why, I’m a seafaring man, and 
I suppose all callings have their weak spots. I dare say youi 
traders not altogether without blemish, honorable and useful 
as it seems to be ? ” 

“ Many of the scouts and guides are desperate knaves ; 
and, like the quartermaster here, some of them take pay of 
both sides. I hope I’m not one of them, though all occupations 
lead to temptations. Thrice have I been sorely tried in my 
life, and once yielded a little, though I hope it was not in a 


THE PA THFINDER, 


388 

matter to disturb a man’s conscience in his last moments. The 
first time w^s when I found in the woods a pack of skins that 
I knowed belonged to a Trencher, who was hunting on our side 
of the lines, where he had no business to be ; twenty-six as 
handsome beavers as ever gladdened human eyes ! Well, that 
was a sore temptation, for I thought the law would have been 
almost with me, although it was in peace times. But then I re- 
membered that such laws wasn’t made for us hunters, and be- 
thought me that the poor man might have built great expecta- 
tions for the next winter, on the sale of his skins ; and I left 
them where they lay. Most of our people said I did WTong, 
but the manner in which I slept that night convinced me that I 
had done right. The next trial was when I found the rifle, that 
is sartainly the only one in this part of the world that can be 
calculated on as surely as Killdeer, and knowed that by taking 
it, or even hiding it, I might at once rise to be the first shot in 
all these parts. I was then young, and by no means as expart 
as I have since got to be, and youth is ambitious and striving ; 
but, God be praised ! I mastered that feeling ; and, friend Cap, 
what is almost as good, I mastered my rival in as fair a shoot- 
ing-match as was ever witnessed in a garrison ; he with his 
piece, and I with Killdeer, and before the general in person, 
too ! ” Here Pathfinder stopped to laugh, his triumph still 
glittering in his eyes, and glowing on his sunburned and 
browned cheek. “ Well, the next conflict with the devil was 
the hardest of them all, and that was when I came suddenly 
upon a camp of six Mingoes, asleep in the woods, with their 
guns and horns piled in a way that enabled me to get possession 
of them without waking a miscreant of them all. What an op- 
portunity that would have been for the Sarpent, who w'ould 
have despatched them, one after another, with his knife, and 
had their six scalps at his girdle in about the time it takes me 
to tell you the story. Oh ! he’s a valiant warrior, that Chin- 
gachgook, and as honest as he’s brave, and as good as he’s 
honest 1 ” 

“ And what may have done in this matter. Master Path- 
finder ! ” demanded Cap, who began to be interested in the re- 
sult ; “ it seems to me you had made either a very lucky or a 
very unlucky landfall.” 

“ ’Twas lucky, and ’twas unlucky, if you can understand 
that. ’Twas unlucky, for it proved a desperate trial ; and yet 
’twas lucky, all things considered, in the ind. I did not touch 
a hair of their heads, for a white man has no nat’ral gifts to 
take scalps : nor did I even make sure of one of their rifles. I 


THE PA THFINDER, ^89 

distrusted myself, knowing that a Mingo is no favorite in my 
own eyes.” 

“ As for the scalps, I think you were right enough, my 
worthy friend ; but as for the armament and the stores, they 
w^oulcl have been condemned by any prize-court in Christen- 
dom.” 

“ That they would — that they would ; but then the Mingoes 
w^ould have gone clear, seeing that a white man can no more 
attack an unarmed, than a sleeping inimy. No — no — I did 
myself, and my color, and my religion, too, greater justice. I 
w^aited till their nap was over, and they well on the war-path 
again : and by ambushing them here, and flanking them there, 
I peppered the blackguards iutrinsically like ” — Pathfinder oc- 
casionally caught a fine word from his associates, and used it a 
little vaguely — “ that only cns ever got back to his village ; 
and he came into his wigwam, limping. Luckily, as it turned 
out, the great Delaware had only halted to jerk some venison, 
and w'as following on my trail ; and when he got up, he had five 
of the scoundrels’ scalps hanging where they ought to be ; so 
you see nothing was lost by doing right, either in the w^ay of 
honor or in that of profit.” 

Cap grunted an assent, though the distinctions in his com- 
panion’s morality, it must be owned, were not exactly clear to 
his understanding. The two had occasionally moved toward 
the block as they conversed, and then stopped again, as some 
matter of more interest than common brought them to a halt. 
They w^ere now so near the building, however, that neither 
thought of pursuing the subject any farther ; but each prepared 
himself for the final scene wdth Sergeant Dunham, 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 


“ Thou barraine ground, whom winter’s wrath hath wasted. 
Art made a mirror to behold my plight : 

Whil’ome thy fresh spring flower’d: and after hasted 
Thy summer proude, with daffodillies dight ; 

And now is come thy winter’s stormy state, 

Thy mantle mar’d wherein thou maskedest late.” 

— Spenser. 


Although the soldier may regard danger, and even death 
with indifference, in the tumult of battle, when the passage of 
the soul is delayed to moments of tranquillity and reflection, 
the change commonly brings with it the usual train of solemn 


THE PA THFINDER, 


390 

reflections ; of regret for the past ; and of doubts arvd antic: 
pations for the future. Many a man has died with an heroic, 
expression on his lips, but with heaviness and distrust at his 
heart ; for, whatever may be the varieties of our religious creeds 
— let us depend on the mediation of Christ, the dogmas of 
Mahomet, or the elaborated allegories of the East — there is a 
conviction, common to all men, that death is but the stepping 
stone between this and a more elevated state of being. Sergeant 
Dunham was a brave man ; but he was departing for a country 
in which resolution could avail him nothing ; and, as he felt 
himself gradually loosened from the grasp of the world, his 
thoughts and feelings took the natural direction ; for, if it be 
true that death is the great leveller, in nothing is it more true; 
than that it reduces all to the same views of the vanity of life. 

Pathfinder, though a man of quaint and peculiar habits . and 
opinions, was always thoughtful, and disposed to view the things 
around him with a shade of philosophy, as well as with serious- 
ness. In him therefore, the scene in the block-house awakened 
no very novel feelings ; but the case was different with Cap. 
Rude, opinionated, dogmatical, and boisterous, the old sailor 
was little accustomed to view even death with any approach to 
the gravity that its importance demands ; and, no withstanding all 
that had passed, and his real regard for his brother-in-law, he 
now entered the room of the dying man with much of that cal- 
lous unconcern which was the fruit of long training in a school, 
that, while it gives so many lessons in the sublimest truths, 
generally wastes its admonitions on scholars who are little 
disposed to profit by them. 

The first proof that Cap gave of his not entering as fully 
as those around him into the solemnity of the moment, was by 
commencing a narration of the events which had just led to the 
deaths of Muir and Arrowhead. “ Both tripped their anchors 
in a hurry, brother Dunham,” he concluded ; “ and you have 
the consolation of knowing that the others have gone before 
you in the great journey, and they, too, men whom you’ve no 
particular reason to love : which to me, were I placed in your 
situation, would be a source of very great satisfaction. My 
mother always said. Master Pathfinder, that dying people’s 
spirits should not be damped, but that they ought to be en- 
couraged by all proper and prudent means ; and this news will 
give the poor fellow a great lift, if he feels toward them savages 
any way as I feel myself.” 

June arose at this intelligence, and stole from the block' 


THE PA THFINDER, 


391 


house with a noiseless step. Dunham listened with a vacant 
stare, for life had already lost so many of its ties that he had 
really forgotten Arrowhead, and cared nothing for Muir ; but 
he inquired in a feeble voice for Eau-douce. The young man 
was immediately summoned, and soon made his appearance. 
The sergeant gazed at him kindly, and the expression of his 
eyes was that of regret for the injury he had done him in thought. 
The party in the block-house now consisted of Pathfinder, Cap, 
Mabel, Jasper, and the dying man. With the exception of the 
daughter, all stood around the sergeant’s pallet in attendance 
on his last moments. Mabel kneeled at his side, now pressing a 
clammy hand to her head, now applying moisture to the parched 
lips of her father. 

“ Your case will shortly be ourn, sergeant,” said Pathfinder, 
who could hardly be said to be awestruck by the scene, for he 
had witnessed the approach and victories of death too often 
for that : but who felt the full difference between his triumphs 
in the excitement of battle, and in the quiet of the domestic 
circle ; “ and I make no question we shall meet again hereafter, 
Arrowhead has gone his way, tis true ; but it can never be the 
way of a just Indian. You’ve seen the last of him ; for his path 
cannot be the path of the just. Reason is ag’in the thought, 
in his case, as it is also in my judgment ag’in it, too, in the 
case of Lieutenant Muir. You have done you duty in life ; and, 
when a man does that, he may start on the longest journey with 
a light heart and an actyve foot.” 

“ I hope so, my friend — I’ve tried to do my duty.” 

“ Ay — ay — ” put in Cap, “ intention is half the battle ; and 
though you would have done better had you hove to in the of- 
fing and sent a craft in to feel how the land lay ; things might 
have turned out differently ; no one here doubts that you meant 
all for the best, and no one anywhere else, I should think, from 
what I’ve seen of this world and read of t’other.” 

“ I did — yes — I meant all for the best.” 

“ Father ! — oh ! my beloved father ! ” 

“ Magnet is taken aback by this blow. Master Pathfinder, 
and can say or do but little to carry her father over the shoals ; 
so we must try all the harder to serve him a friendly turn our- 
selves.” 

“ Did you speak, Mabel ? ” Dunham asked, turning his eyes 
in the direction of his daughter, for he was already too feeble 
to turn his body. 

Yes, father ; rely on nothing you have done yourself, for 


THE PA THFINDER. 


392 

mercy and salvation ; trust altogether in the blessed mediatioc 
of the Son of God ! ” 

“ The chaplain has told us something like this, brother — the 
dear child may be right.” 

“ Ay — ay — that’s doctrine out of question. He will be oui 
judge, and keeps the log-book of our acts, and will foot them 
all up at the last day, and then say who has done well and who 
has done ill. I do believe Mabel is right, but then you need 
not be concerned, as no doubt the account has been fairly 
kept.” 

Uncle ! — dearest father ! — This is a vain illusion — oh ! 
place all your trust in the mediation of our holy Redeemer ! 
Have you not often felt your own insufficiency to effect your 
own wishes in the commonest things, and how can you imagine 
yourself, by your own acts, equal to raise up a frail and sinful 
nature sufficiently to be received into the presence of perfect 
purity } There is no hope for any, but in the mediation of 
Christ.” 

“This is what the Moravians used to tell us,” said Path- 
finder to Cap, in a low voice ; “ Mabel is right.” 

Right enough, friend Pathfinder, in the distances, but 
wrong in the course. I’m afraid the child will get the sergeant 
adrift at the very moment when we had him in the best of the 
water, and in the plainest part of the channel.” 

“ I.,eave it to Mabel — leave it to Mabel — she knows better 
than any of us, and can do no harm.” 

“ I have heard this before” — Dunham at length replied — ■ 
“ Ah ! Mabel ; it is strange for the parent to lean on the child 
at a moment like this.” 

“ Put your trust in God, father — lean on his holy and com- 
passionate Son. Pray, dearest, dearest father — pray for his 
omnipotent support.” 

“ I am not used to prayer — brother — Pathfinder — ^Jasper- 
can you help me to words ” 

Cap scarce knew what prayer meant, and he had no answer 
give. Pathfinder prayed often, daily if not hourly — but it was 
mentally, in his own simple modes of thinking, and without 
the aid of words at all. In this strait, therefore, he was as use- 
less as the mariner, and had no reply to make. As for Jasper 
Eau-douce, though he would gladly have endeavored to move a 
mountain to relieve Mabel, this was asking assistance it ex 
ceeded his power to give ; and he shrank back with the shame 
that is only too apt to overcome the young, the vigorous, when. 


THE PA THFINDER. 


393 

called on to perform an act that tacitly confesses their real weak- 
ness and dependence on a superior power. 

“ Father” — said Mabel, wiping her eyes, and endeavoring, 
to compose features that were pallid, and actually quivering 
with emotion — “ / will pray with yo\x— for you — for myself^ foj 
us all. The petition of the feeblest and humblest is never un 
heeded ” 

There was something sublime, as well as much that was 
supremely touching, in this act of filial piety. The quiet, but 
earnest manner in which this young creature prepared herself 
to perform the duty ; the self abandonment with which she 
forgot her sex’s timidity and sex’s shame, in order to sustain 
her parent at that trying moment ; the loftiness of purpose with 
which she directed all her powers to the immense object before 
her, with a woman’s devotion, and a woman’s superiority to 
trifles, when her affections made the appeal ; and the holy calm 
into which her grief was compressed, rendered her, for the 
moment, an object of something very like awe and veneration 
to her companions. 

Mabel had been religiously and reasonably educated ; equally " 
without exaggeration and without self-sufficiency. Her reliance 
on God was cheerful and full of hope, while it was of the hum- 
blest and most dependent nature. She had been accustomed 
from childhood to address herself to the Deity in prayer ; tak- 
ing example from the divine mandate of Christ himself, who 
commanded his followers to abstain from vain repetitions, and 
who has left behind him a petition that is unequalled for sub 
limity and sententiousness, as if expressly to rebuke the dispo- 
sition of man to set up his own loose and random thoughts as 
the most acceptable sacrifice. The sect in which she had been 
reared has furnished to its followers some of the most beautiful 
compositions of the language, as a suitable vehicle for its de- 
votion and solicitations. Accustomed to this mode of public 
and even private prayer, the mind of our heroine had naturally 
fallen into its train of lofty thought : her taste had become im- 
proved by its study, and her language elevated and enriched 
by its phrases. In short, Mabel, in this respect, was an in* 
stance of the influence and familiarity with propriety of thought, 
fitness of language, and decorum of manner, on the habits and 
expressions of even those who might be supposed not to be 
always so susceptible of receiving high impressions of this 
nature. When she kneeled at the bedside of her father, the 
very reverence of her attitude and manner prepared the spec- 
tators for what was to come ; and as her affectionate heart 


394 


THE PA THFINDER, 


prompted her tongue, and memory came in aid of both, the 
petition and praises that she offered up were of a character 
that might have worthily led the spirits of angels. Although 
the words were not slavishly borrowed, the expressions partook 
of the simple dignity of the liturgy to which she had been ac- 
customed, and were probably as worthy of the being to whom they 
were addressed as they could well be made by human powers. 
They produced their full impression on the hearers ; for it is 
worthy of remark that, notwithstanding the pernicious effects 
of a false taste when long submitted to, real sublimity and 
beauty are so closely allied to Nature, that they generally find 
an echo in every heart. 

But when our heroine came to touch upon the situation of 
the dying man, she became the most truly persuasive, for then 
she was the most truly zealous and natural. The beauty of 
the language was preserved, but it was sustained by the simple 
power of love ; and her words were warmed by a holy zeal, that 
approached to the grandeur of true eloquence. We might re- 
cord some of her expressions, but doubt the propriety of sub- 
jecting such sacred themes to a too familiar analysis, and re- 
frain. 

The effect of this singular but solemn scene was different, 
on the different individuals present. Dunham himself was 
soon lost in the subject of the prayer ; and he felt some such 
relief as one who finds himself staggering on the edge of a pre- 
cipice under a burden difficult to be borne, might be supposed 
to experience, when he unexpectedly feels the weight removed 
in order to be placed on the shoulders of another better able 
to sustain it. Cap was surprised, as well as awed ; though the 
effects on his mind were not very deep or very lasting. He 
wondered a little at his own sensations, and had his doubts 
whether they were as manly and heroic as they ought to be ; 
but he was far too sensible of the influence of truth, humility, 
religious submission, and human dependency, to think of inter- 
posing with any of his crude objections. Jasper knelt opposite 
to Mabel, covered his face, and followed her words, with an 
earnest wish to aid her prayers with his own ; though it may be 
questioned if his thoughts did not dwell quite as much on the 
soft, gentle accents of the petitioner as on the subject of her 
petition. 

The effect on Pathfinder was striking and visible ; visible, 
because he stood erect, also opposite to Mabel ; and the work- 
ings on his countenance, as usual, betrayed the workings of 
the spirit within. He leaned on his rifle, and, at mo- 


THE PATHFINDER^ 


395 

ments, the sinewy fingers grasped the barrel with a force that 
seemed to compress the weapon ; while once or twice, as 
Mabel’s language rose in intimate associations with her thoughts, 
he lifted his eyes to the floor above him, as if he expected to 
find some visible evidence of the presence of the dread Being 
to whom the words were addressed. Then again his feelings 
reverted to the fair creature who was thus pouring out her 
spirit, in fervent, but calm petitions, in behalf of a dying pa- 
rent ; for Mabel’s cheek was no longer pallid, but was flushed 
with a holy enthusiasm, while her blue eyes were upturned in 
the light, in a way to resemble a picture by Guido. At these 
moments all the honest and manly attachment of Pathfinder 
glowed in his ingenuous features, and his gaze at our heroine 
was such as the fondest parent might fasten on the child of his 
love. 

Sergeant Dunham laid his hand feebly on the head of Mabei 
as she ceased praying, and buried her face in his blanket. 

“ Bless you — my beloved child — bless you ” — he rather 
whispered than uttered aloud — “ this is truly consolation — would 
that I, too, could pray ! ” 

“ Father, you know the Lord’s prayer — you taught it to me 
yourself, while I was yet an infant.” 

The sergeant’s face gleamed with a smile ; for he did remem- 
ber to have discharged that portion, at least, of the paternal 
duty ; and the consciousness of it gave him inconceivable 
gratification at that solemn moment,. He was then silent for 
several minutes, and all present believed that he was communing 
with God. 

“ Mabel — my child,” he at length uttered, in a voice that 
seemed to be reviving — “ Mabel — I’m quitting you” — the spirit 
at its great and final passage, appears to consid.er the body as 
nothing — “ I’m quitting you, my child — where is your hand ? ” 

“ Here, dearest father — here are both — oh ! take both.” 

‘‘ Pathfinder,” added the sergeant, feeling on the opposite 
side of the bed, where Jasper still knelt, and getting one of the 
hands of the young man by mistake — “ take it — I leave you 
as her father — as you and she may please — bless you — bless 
you both ” 

At that awful instant no one would rudely apprise the ser- 
geant of his mistake ; and he died a minute or two later, hold- 
ing Jasper’s and Mabel’s hands covered by both his own. 
Our heroine was ignorant of the fact, until an exclamation of 
Cap’s announced the death of her father ; when, raising her 
face, she saw the eyes of Jasper riveted on her own, and felt the 


THE PA THFINDER. 


39 ^ 

warm pressure of his hand. But a single feeling was predomt 
nant at that instant : and Mabel withdrew to weep, scarcely 
conscious of what had occurred. The Pathfinder took the arm 
of Eau-douce, and he left the block. 

The two friends walked in silence past the fire along the 
glade, and nearly reached the opposite shore of the island in 
profound silence. Here they stopped, and Pathfinder spoke. 

“ ’Tis all over Jasper,” he said ; “ ’tis all over. Ah’s me ! 
Poor Sergeant Dunham has finished his march, and that, too, 
by the hand of a venomous Mingo. Well, we never know what 
is to happen, and his luck may be your’n or mine, to morrow, 
or next day ! ” 

“ And Mabel ? What is to become of Mabel, Pathfinder ? ” 

“ You heard the sergeant’s dying words — he has left his 
child in my care, J asper ; and it is a most solemn trust, it is ; 
yes, it is a most solemn trust ? ” 

“ It’s a trust. Pathfinder, of which any man would be glad 
to relieve you,” returned the youth, with a bitter smile. 

“ I’ve often thought it has fallen into wrong hands. I’m not 
consaited, Jasper ; I’m not consaited, I do think I’m not; but 
if Mabel Dunham is willing to overlook all my imperfections 
and ignorances like, I should be wrong to gainsay it on account 
of any sartainty I may have myself about my own want of 
merit.” 

“ No one will blame you. Pathfinder, for marrying Mabel 
Dunham, any more than they will blame you for wearing a pre- 
cious jewel in your bosom, that a friend had freely given you.” 

“ Do you think they’ll blame Mabel, lad ? I’ve had my 
misgivings about that, too, for all persons may not be as dis- 
posed to look at me with the same eyes as you and the sergeant’s 
daughter.” Jasper Eau-douce started, as a man flinches at sud- 
den bodily pain ; but he otherwise maintained his self-command. 
“ And mankind is envious and ill-natured, more particularly 
in and about the garrisons. I sometimes wish, Jasper, that 
Mabel could have taken a fancy to you, I do ; and that you 
had taken a fancy to her ; for it often seems to me that one 
like you, after all, might make her happier than I ever can.” 

“ We will not talk about this. Pathfinder,” interrupted 
Jasper, hoarsely and impatiently — “ you will be Mabel’s hus- 
band, and it is not right to speak of any one else in that charac- 
ter. As for me, I shall take Master Cap’s advice, and try and 
make a man of myself, by seeing what is to be done on the 
saltwater.” 

“ You, Jasper Western ! — you quit the lakes, the forests, 


THE PATHFINDER. 


397 

and the lines ; and this, too, for the towns and wasty ways of 
the settlements, and a little difference in the taste of the water ? 
Heaven ’t we the salt-licks, if salt is necessary to you ? and 
oughtn’t man to be satisfied with what contents the other 
creator’s of God ? I counted on you, Jasper — I counted on 
you, I did— and thought, now that Mabel and I intend to dwell 
in a cabin of our own, that some day you might be tempted td 
choose a companion too, and come and settle in our neighbor- 
hood. There is a beautiful spot about fifty miles west of 
the garrison that I had chosen in my mind, for my own place of 
abode, and there is an excellent harbor ten leagues this side 
of it, where you could run in and out with the cutter, at any leis- 
ure minute ; and I’d even fancied you and your wife in posses- 
sion of the one place, and Mabel and I in possession of t’other. 
We should be just a healthy hunt apart ; and if the Lord ever 
intends any of his creatur’s to be happy on ’arth, none could be 
happier than we four.” 

“ You forget, my Tiend,” answered Jasper, taking the guide’s 
hand and forcing a friendly smile, “ that I have no fourth per- 
son to love and cherish ; and I much doubt if I ever shall love 
any other as I love you and Mabel.” 

“ Thank’ee, boy ; I thank you with all my heart — but what 
you call love for Mabel is only friendship like, and a very differ- 
ent thing from what I feel. Now, instead of sleeping as sound 
as Natur’ at midnight as I used to could, I dream nightly of 
Mabel Dunham. The young does sport before me ; and when 
I raise Killdeer in order to take a little venison, the animals look 
back, and it seems as if they all had Mabel’s sweet counte- 
nance, laughing in my face, and looking as if they said, ‘ Shoot 
me, if you dare ! ” Then I hear her soft voice calling out among 
the birds as they sing ; and, no later than the last nap I took, 
I bethought me in fancy of going over the Niagara holding 
Mabel in my arms rather than part from her. The bitterest 
moments I’ve ever known were them in which the devil or 
some Mingo conjuror, perhaps, has just put into my head to 
fancy in dreams that Mabel is lost to me by some unaccount- 
able calamity — either by changefulness or by violence.” 

“ Oh ! Pathfinder, if you think this so bitter in a dream, 
what must it be to one who feels its reality, and knows it all to 
be true — true — true ! So true, as to leave no hope ; to leave . 
nothing but dispair ! ” 

These words burst from Jasper as a fluid pours from the 
vessel that has been suddenly broken. They were uttered 
involuntarily, almost unconsciously, but with a truth and feel- 


THE PA THFINDER. 


398 

Ing that carried with them the instant conviction of their deep 
sincerity. Pathfinder started, gazed at his friend for quite a 
minute like one bewildered ; and then it was that in despite of 
all his simplicity the truth gleamed upon him. All know how 
corroborating proofs crowd upon the mind as soon as it catches 
a direct clue to any hitherto unsuspected fact ; how rapidly the 
thoughts flow, and premises tend to their just conclusions, un- 
der such circumstances. Our hero was so confiding by nature, 
so just and so much disposed to imagine that all his friends 
wished him the same happiness as he wished them, that, until 
this unfortunate moment, a suspicion of Jasper’s attachment for 
Mabel had never been awakened in his bosom. He was, how- 
ever, now too experienced in the emotions that characterized 
the passion ; and the burst of feeling in his companion was too 
violent and too natural to leave any further doubt on the sub- 
ject. The feeling that first followed this change of opinion was 
one of deep humility and exquisite pain. He bethought him of 
Jasper’s youth, his higher claims to personal appearance, and 
all the general probabilities that such a suitor would be more 
agreeable to Mabel than he could possibly be himself. Then 
the noble rectitude of mind for which the man was so distin- 
guished asserted its power ; it was sustained by his rebuked 
manner of thinking of himself, and all that habitual deference 
for the rights and feelings of others, which appeared to be in- 
bred in his very nature. Taking the arm of Jasper he led him 
to a log, where he compelled the young man to seat himself, by 
a sort of irresistible exercise of his iron muscles, and where he 
placed himself at his side. 

The instant his feelings had found vent, Eau-douce was 
both alarmed at and ashamed of their violence. He would 
have given all he possessed on earth could the last three min- 
utes be recalled, but he was too frank by dispbsition, and too 
much accustomed to deal ingenuously by his friend, to think a 
moment of attempting further concealment, or of any evasion 
of the explanation that he knew was about to be demanded. 
Even while he trembled in anticipation of what was about to 
follow, he never contemplated equivocation. 

“ Jasper,” Pathfinder commenced, in a tone so solemn as 
to thrill on every nerve in his listener’s body, “ this has sur- 
prised me ! You have kinder feelings toward Mabel than I had 
thought ; and, unless my own mistaken vanity and consait have 
cruelly deceived me, I pity you, boy — from my soul, I do. Yes, 
I think I know how to pity any one who has set his heart on a 
creature like Mabel, unless he sees a prospect of her regarding 


THE PA TH FINDER. 


399 

him as he regards her. This matter must be cleared up, Eau- 
douce, as the Delawares says until there shall not be a cloud 
atween us.” 

“ What clearing up can it want. Pathfinder ! I love Mabel 
Dunham, and Mabel Dunham does not love me — she prefers 
you for a husband ; and the wisest thing I can do, is to go off 
at once to the salt-water and try to forget you both.” 

“ Forget me, Jasper ! — that would be a punishment I don’t 
desarve. But how do you know that Mabel prefars me '^ — how 
do you know it, lad ? to me its seems impossible, like ! ” 

“ Is she not to marry you, and would Mabel marry a man 
she does not love ? ” 

“ She has been hard urged by the sergeant, she has ; and a 
dutiful child may have found it difficult to withstand the wishes 
of a dying parent. Have you ever told Mabel that you pre- 
farred her, Jasper ; that you bore her these feelings ? ” 

“ Never, Pathfinder ; I would not do you that wrong ! ” 

“ I believe you, lad, I do believe you ; and I think you 
would now go to the salt-water, and let the scent die with you. 
But this must not be. Mabel shall hear all, and she shall have 
her own way, if my heart breaks in the trial, she shall. No 
words have ever passed atween you, then, Jasper ? ” 

“ Nothing of account — ;nothing direct. Still, I will own all 
my foolishness, Pathfinder, for I ought to own it to a generous 
friend like you, and there will be an end of it. You know how 
young people understand each other, or think they understand 
each other, without always speaking out in plain speech ; and 
get to know each other’s thoughts, or to think they know them 
by means of a hundred little ways ? ” 

“ Not I, Jasper, not I,” truly answered the guide ; for, sooth 
to say, his advances had never been met with any of that sweet 
and precious encouragement that silently marks the course of 
sympathy united to passion. “ Not I, Jasper — I know nothing 
of all this. Mabel has always treated me fairly, and said what 
she has to say in speech as plain as tongue could tell it. ” 
‘•You have had the pleasure of hearing her say that she loved 
you, Pathfinder 

“Why no, Jasper, not just that, in words. She has told me 
that we never could — never ought to be married ; that she was 
not good enough for me\ though she did say that she honored 
me, and respected me. But then the sergeant said it was ah 
ways so with the youthful and timid — that her mother did so, 
and said so, afore her ; and that I ought to be satisfied if she 


400 


THE PATHFINDER. 


would consent, on any terms, to marry me , and, therefore, 1 
have concluded that all was right, I have.” 

In spite of all his friendship for the successful wooer — in 
spite of all his honest, sincere wishes for his happiness, we 
should be unfaithful chroniclers did we not own that Jasper 
felt his heart bound with an uncontrollable feeling of delight 
at this admission. It was not that he saw or felt any hope con- 
nected with the circumstance ; but it was grateful to the jeal 
ous covetousness of unlimited love, thus to learn that no other 
ears had heard the sweet confessions that were denied its own. 

“ Tell me more of this manner of talking without the 
use of the tongue,” continued Pathfinder, whose countenance 
was getting to be grave, and who now questioned his compan- 
ion, like one who seemed to anticipate evil in the reply. “ I 
can and have conversed with Chingachgook, and with his son 
Uncas, too, in that mode, afore the latter fell ; but I didn’t 
know that young girls practysed this art ; and, least of all, Ma- 
bel Dunham ! ” 

“ ’Tis nothing. Pathfinder. I mean, only a look, a smile, 
or a glance of the eye, or the trembling of an arm, or a hand, 
when the young woman has had occasion to touch me ; and be- 
cause I have been weak enough to tremble even at Mabel’s 
breath, or her brushing me with her clothes, my vain thoughts 
have misled me. I never spoke plainly to Mabel myself ; and 
now there is no use for it, since there is clearly no hope.” 

“ Jasper,” returned Pathfinder, simply, but with a dignity 
that precluded further remarks at the moment, “ we will talk 
of the sergeant’s funeral, and of our own departure from this 
island. After these things are disposed of, it will be time 
enough to say more of the sergeant’s daughter. This matter 
must be looked into ; for the father left me the care of the 
child,” 

Jasper was. glad enough to change the subject, and the 
friends separated, each charged with the duty most peculiar to 
his own station and habits. 

That afternoon all the dead were interred — the grave of 
Sergeant Dunham being dug in the centre of the glade beneath 
the shade of the huge elm. Mabel wept bitterly at the cere- 
mon}'’, and she found relief in thus disburdening her sorrow. 
The n,ght passed tranquilly, as did the whole of the following 
day; Jasper declaring that the gale was too severe to venture 
on the lake. This circumstance detained Captain Sanglier, 
also ; who did not quit the island until the morning of the third 
day after the death of Dunham, when the weather had moderated, 


THE PA THFINDER, 


401 


and the wind had become fair. Then, indeed, he departed, 
after taking leave of the Pathfinder, in the manner of one who 
believed he was in company of a distinguished character for the 
last time. The two separated like those who respect one an- 
other, while each felt that the other was an enigma to himself 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

“ Playful she turned, that he might see 
The passing smile her cheeks put on; 

But when she marked how mournfully 
His eyes met hers, that smile was gon^.'• 

— Lalla Rookh 

The occurrences of the last few days had been too excitinsr 
and had made too many demands on the fortitude of our hero- 
ine, to leave her in the helplessness of grief. She mourned for 
her father, and she occasionally shuddered, as she recalled the 
sudden death of Jennie and all the horrible scenes sne had 
witnessed ; but, on the whole, she had aroused herself, and was 
no longer in the deep depression that usually accompanies grief. 
Perhaps the overwhelming, almost stupefying sorrow that 
crushed poor June, and left her for nearly twenty-four hours in 
a state of stupor, assisted Mabel in conquering her own feelings, 
for she had felt called on to administer consolation to the young 
Indian woman. This she had done, in her quiet, soothing, in- 
sinuating way in which her sex usually exerts its influence on 
such occasions. 

The morni7/g of the third day was set for that on which the 
Scud was to sail. Jasper had made all his preparations; the 
different effects were embarked, and Mabel had taken leave of 
June — a painful and affectionate parting. In a word, all was 
ready, and every .«;oul had left the island but the Indian woman, 
Pathfinder, Jasper and our heroine. The former had gone/into 
a thicket to weep, and the three last were approaching the spot 
where three canoes lay, one of which was the property of June, 
and the other two were in waiting to carry the others off to the 
Scud. Pathfinder led the way, but when he drew near the 
shore, instead of taking the direction of the boats, he motioned 
to his companions to follow, and proceeded to a fallen tree that 
lay on the margin of the glade, and out of view of those in the 
cutter. Seating himself on the trunk, he signed \o Mabel ta 


402 


THE PATHFINDER. 


take her place on one side of him and to Jasper to occupy the 
other. 

“ Sit down here, Mabel ; sit down there, Eau-douce,” he 
commenced, as soon as he had taken his own seat ; “ I’ve 
something that lies heavy on my mind, and now is the time to 
take it off, if it’s ever to be done. Sit down, Mabel, and let 
me lighten my heart, if not my conscience, while I’ve the 
strength to do it.” 

The pause that succeeded lasted two or three minutes, and 
both the young people wondered what was to come next — the 
idea that Pathfinder could have any weight on his conscience 
seeming equally improbable to each. 

“ Mabel,” our hero at length resumed, “ we must talk plainly 
to each other afore we join your uncle in the cutter, where the 
Saltwater has slept every night since the last rally; for he 
says it’s the only place in which a man can be sure of keeping the 
hair on his head, he does. Ah’s me ! what have I to do with 
these follies and sayings now t I try to be pleasant and to feel 
lighthearted, but the power of man can’t make water run up 
stream. Mabel, you know that the sergeant, afore he left us, 
had settled it atween us two, that we were to become man and 
wife, and that we were to live together, and to love one another as 
long as the Lord was pleased to keep us both on ’arth ; yes, 
and afterwards, too ? ” 

Mabel’s cheeks had regained a little of their ancient bloom 
in the fresh air of the morning : but at this unlooked-for-ad- 
dress they blanched again, nearly to the pallid hue which grief 
had imprinted there. Still she looked kindly, though seriously, 
at Pathfinder, and even endeavored to force a smile. 

“ Very true, my excellent friend ” — she answered^ — “ this 
was my poor father’s wish, and I feel certain that a whole life 
devoted to your welfare and comforts could scarcely repay you 
for all you have done for us.” 

I fear me, Mabel, that man and wife needs be bound 
together by a stronger tie than such feelings, I do. You have 
done nothing for me, or nothing of any account, and yet my 
very heart yearns toward you, it does ; and therefore it seems 
likely that these feelings come from something besides saving 
scalps and guiding through woods.” 

Mabel’s cheek had begun to glow again ; and though she 
struggled hard to smile, her voice trembled a little as she 
answered : 

“ Had we not better postpone this conversation, Path- 
finder ? ” she said ; “ we are not alone ; and nothing is so un* 


THE PATHFINDER, 


403 

pleasant to a listener, they say, as family matters in which he 
feels no interest.” 

“ It’s because we are not alone, Mabel, or rather because 
Jasper is with us, that I wish to talk of this matter. The ser- 
geant believed I might make a suitable companion for you, and, 
though I had misgivings about it — yes, I had many mis^ 
givings — he finally persuaded me into the idee, and things 
came round between us, as you know. But when you promised 
your father to marry me, Mabel, and gave me your hand so 
modestly, but so prettily, there was one circumstance, as your 
uncle called it, that you didn’t know; and I’ve thought it right 
to tell you what it is before matters are finally settled. I’ve 
often taken a poor deer for my dinner, when good venison was 
not to be found ; but it’s- as nat’ral not to take up with the worst 
when the best may be had.” 

“You speak in a way. Pathfinder, that is difficult to be 
understood. If this conversation is really necessary, I trust 
you will be more plain.” 

“ Well, then, Mabel, I’ve been thinking it was quite likely, 
when you-gave in to the sergeant’s wishes, that you did not 
know the natur’ of Jasper Western’s feelings toward you .? ” 

“ Pathfinder ! ” — and Mabel’s cheek now paled to the livid 
hue of death ; then it flushed to the tint of crimson ; and her 
whole frame shuddered. Pathfinder, however, was too intent 
on his own object to notice this agitation ; and Eau- douce had 
hidden his face in his hands in time to shut out its view. 

“ I’ve been talking with the lad ; and, on comparing his 
dreams with my dreams, his feelings with my feelings, and his 
wishes with my wishes, I fear we think too much alike concern^ 
ing you, for both of us to be very happy.” 

“ Pathfinder — you forget — you should remember that we 
are betrothed ! ” said Mabel, hastily, and in a voice so low, 
that it required acute attention in the listeners to catch the 
syllables. Indeed, the last word was not quite intelligible to 
the guide, and he confessed his ignorance by the usual : 

“ Anan ? ” 

“You forget that we are to be married; and such allusions 
are improper as well as painful.” 

“ Everything is proper that is right, Mabel ; and everything 
is right that leads to justice and fair dealing ; though it is pain- 
ful enough, as you say — as I find on trial, I do. Now, Mabel, 
had you known that Eau-douce thinks of you in this way, may- 
be you never would have consented to be married to one a5 
old and as uncomely as I am.” 


404 


THE PATHFINDER. 


“ Why this cruel trial, Pathfinder, to what can all this lead ? 
Jasper Western thinks no such thing; he says nothing — he 
feels nothing.” 

“ Mabel ! ” burst from out of the young man’s lips, in a 
way to betray the uncontrollable nature of his emotions, though 
he uttered not another syllable. 

Mabel buried her face in both her hands ; and the two sat 
like a pair of guilty beings, suddenly detected in the commission 
of some crime that involved the happiness of a common patron. 
At that instant, perhaps, Jasper himself was inclined to deny 
his passion, through an extreme unwillingness to grieve his 
friend ; while Mabel, on whom this positive announcement of a 
fact that she had rather unconsciously hoped than believed, 
came so- unexpectedly, felt her mind momentarily bewildered, 
and she scarce knew whether to weep or to rejoice. Still, she 
was the first to speak ; since Eau-douce could utter naught that 
would be disingenuous, or that would pain his friend. 

“ Pathfinder,” she said, “ you talk wildly. Why mention 
this at all ? ” 

“ Well, Mabel, if I talk wildly, I am half wild, you know ; 
by natur’, I fear, as well as by habit.” As he said this, he 
endeavored to laugh in his usual noiseless way, but the effect 
produced a strange and discordant sound ; and it appeared 
nearly to choke him. “ Yes, I must be wild ; I’ll not attempt 
to deny it.” 

“ Dearest Pathfinder ! — my best, almost my only friend ! 
you cafinot., do not think I intended to say that ! ” interrupted 
Mabel, almost breathless in her haste to relieve his mortifica- 
tion — “ if courage, truth, nobleness of soul and conduct, un- 
yielding principles, and a hundrecl other excellent qualities, 
can render any man respectable, esteemed or beloved, your 
claims are inferior to those of no other human being.” 

“What tender and bewitching voices they have, Jasper!” 
resumed the guide, now laughing freely and naturally. “Yes, 
Natur’ seems to have made them on purpose to sing in our 
ears when the music of the woods is silent ! But we must 
come to a right understanding, we must. I ask you again, 
Mabel, if you had known that Jasper Western loves you as well 
as I do, or better perhaps — though that is scarce possible ; that 
in his dreams he sees your face in the water of the lake ; that 
he talks to you and of you in his sleep ; fancies all that is beau 
tiful like Mabel Dunham, and all that is good and virtuous ; 
believes he never knowed happiness until he knowed you ; 
could kiss the ground on which you have trod, and forgets all 


THE PA THFINDER. 


405 

the joys of his calling to -think of you, and of the delight of 
gazing at your beauty, and in listening to your voice, would 
you then have consented to marry me ? ” 

Mabel could not have answered this question if she would ; 
but, though her face was buried in her hands, the tint of the 
rushing blood was visible between the openings, and the suffu- 
sion seemed to impart itself to her very fingers. Still, Nature 
asserted her power, for there was a single instant when the 
astonished, almost terrified girl stole a glance at Jasper, as if 
distrusting Pathfinder’s history of his feelings, read the truth 
of all he said in that furtive look, and instantly concealed her 
face again, as if she would hide it from observation forever. 

“ Take time to think, Mabel,” the guide continued, “ for 
it is a solemn thing to accept one man for a husband, while the 
thoughts and wishes lead to another. Jasper and I have talked 
this matter over freely and like old friends, and though I 
always knowed that we viewed most things pretty much alike, 
I couldn’t have thought that we regarded any particular object' 
with the very same eyes, as it might be, until we opened our 
minds to each other about you. Now, Jasper owns that the 
very first time he beheld you, he thought you the sweetest and 
winiiingest creatur’ he had ever met ; that your voice sounded 
like murmuring water in his ears ; that he fancied his sails 
were your garments, fluttering in the wind ; that your laugh 
haunted him in his sleep ; and that, ag’in and ag’in has he started 
up affrighted, because he has fancied some one wanted to force 
you out of the Scud, where he imagined you had taken up your 
abode. Nay, the lad has even acknowledged that he often weeps 
at the thought that you are likely to spend your days with an- 
other and not with him.” 

“ Jasper ! ” 

“ It’s solemn truth, Mabel, and it’s right you should know 
it. .Now stand up, and choose atween us. I do believe Eau- 
douce loves you as well as I do myself ; he has tried to pun 
guade me that he loves you better, but that I will not allow, 
for I do not think it possible ; but I will own the boy loves you 
heart and soul, and he has a good right to be heard. The ser- 
geant left me your protector, and not your tyrant, I told him 
that I would be a father to you, as well as a husband, and it 
seems to me no feeling father would deny his child this small 
privilege. Stand up, Mabel therefore, and speak your thoughts 
as freely as if I were the sergeant himself seekir 0 your good, 
and nothing else.” 

Mabel dropped her hands, arose, and stood face to face 


THE PATHFINDER. 


406 

with her two suitors, though the flush that was on her cheek 
was feverish, the evidence of excitement rather than of shame. 

“ What would you have. Pathfinder ? ” she asked. “ Have 
I not already promised my poor father to do all you desire ? ” 

*‘Then I desire this. Here I stand, a man of the forest, 
and of little laming, though I fear with an ambition beyond my 
desarts, and I’ll do my endivors to do justice to both sides. In 
the first place, it is allowed that so far as feelings in your be- 
half are consarned, we love you just the same ; Jasper thinks 
his feelings must be the strongest, but this I cannot say, in 
honesty, for it doesn’t seem to me that it can be true ; else I 
would frankly and freely confess it, I would. So in this particu- 
lar, Mabel, we are here before you on equal tarms. As for my- 
self, being the oldest. I’ll first say what little can be produced 
in my favor, as well as ag’in it. As a hunter, I do think there 
is no man near the lines that can outdo me. If venison or 
bear’s meat, or even birds and fish, should ever be scarce in 
our cabin, it would be more likely to be owing to Natur’ and 
Providence, than to any fault of mine. In short, it does seem 
to me that the woman who depended on me, would never be 
likely to want for food. But I am fearful ignorant ! It’s true, 
I speak several tongues, such as they be, while I’m very far 
from being expart at my own. Then, my years are greater 
than youi own, Mabel, and the circumstance that I was so long 
the sergeant’s comrade can be no great merit in your eyes ; I 
wish, too, I was more comely, I do ; but we are all as Natur’ 
made us, and the last thing that a man ought to lament, except 
on very special occasions, is his looks. When all is remem- 
bered, age, looks. Taming, and habits, Mabel, conscience feels 
me I ought to confess that I’m altogether unfit for you, if not 
downright unworthy ; and I would give up the hope, this minute, 
I would, if I didn’t feel something pulling at my heart-strings 
which seems hard to undo.” 

“ Pathfinder ! — noble, generous Pathfinder ! ” — cried our 
heroine, seizing his hand, and kissing it with a species of holy 
reverence, “ you do yourself injustice — you forget my poor 
father and your promise — you do not know me I ” 

“ Now, here’s Jasper,” continued the guide, without allow- 
ing the girl’s caresses to win him from his purpose ; “ with 
him^ the case is different. In the way of providing, as in that 
of loving, there’s not much to choose atween us, for the lad is 
frugal, industrious, and careful. Then he is quite a scholar — 
knows the tongue of the Frenchers — reads many books, and 
some, I know, that you like to read yourself — can understand 


THE PATHFINDER, 


407 

you at all times, which, perhaps, is more than I can say for my< 
self.” 

“ What of all this ? ” — interrupted Mabel, impatiently. 
“ Why speak of it now — why speak of it at all ? ” 

“ Then the lad has a manner of letting his thoughts be 
known, that I fear I can never equal. If there's anything on 
’arth that would make my tongue bold and persuading, Mabel, 
I do think it’s yourself ; and yet, in our late conversations, 
Jasper has outdone me, even on this point, in a way to make 
me ashamed of myself. He has told me how simple you were, 
and how true-hearted, and kind-hearted ; and how you looked 
down upon vanities, for though you might be the wife of more 
than one officer, as he thinks, that you cling to feeling, and 
would rather be true to yourself, and natur’, than a colonel’s 
lady. He fairly made my blood warm, he did, when he spoke 
of your having beauty without seeming ever to have looked 
upon it, and then the manner in which you moved about like a 
young fa’an, so nat’ral and so graceful like, without knowing 
it ; and the truth and justice of your idees, and the warmth 
and generosity of your heart ” 

“ Jasper ! ” interrupted Mabel, giving way to feelings that 
had gathered an ungovernable force by being so long pent, and 
falling into the young man’s willing arms, weeping like a child, 
and almost as helpless. “ Jasper ! — Jasper ! — why have you 
kept this from me ? ” 

The answer of Eau-douce was not very intelligible, nor was 
the murmured dialogue that followed remarkable for coherency. 
But the language of affection is easily understood. The hour 
that succeeded passed like a very few minutes of ordinary life, 
so far as a computation of time was concerned ; and when 
Mabel recollected herself, and bethought her of the existence 
of others, her uncle was pacing the cutter’s deck in great im- 
patience, and wondering why Jasper should be losing so much 
of a favorable wind. Her first thought was of him who was so 
likely to feel the recent betrayal of her real emotions. 

“ Oh ! Jasper ! ” she exclaimed, like one suddenly self- 
convicted — “ The Pathfinder.” 

Eau -douce fairly trembled, not with unmanly apprehension, 
but with the painful conviction of the pang he had given his 
friend ; and he looked in all directions in the expectation of 
seeing his person. But Pathfinder had withdrawn, with a tact 
and delicacy that might have done credit to the sensibility and 
breeding of a courtier. For several minutes the two lovers sat 
silently awaiting his return, uncertain what propriety required 


THE PA THFINDER. 


of them, under circumstances so marked and so peculiar. At 
length they beheld their friend advancing slowly toward them, 
with a thoughtful and even pensive air. 

“ I now understand what you meant, Jasper, by speaking 
without a tongue, and hearing without an ear,” he said, when 
close enough to the tree to be heard. “ Yes, I understana it, 
now, I do, and a very pleasant sort of discourse it is, when one 
can hold it with Mabel Dunham. Ah’s me ! I told the ser- 
geant I wasn’t fit for her ; that I was too old, too ignorant, and 
too wild, like — but he would have it otherwise.” 

Jasper and Mabel sat, resembling Milton’s picture of oui 
first parents, when the consciousness of sin first laid its leaden 
weight on their souls. Neither spoke, neither even moved : 
though both at that moment fancied they could part with their 
new-found happiness, in order to restore their friend to his 
peace of mind. Jasper was pale as death ; but in Mabel, 
maiden modesty had caused the blood to mantle on her cheeks 
until their bloom was heightened to a richness that was scarce 
equalled in her hours of light-hearted buoyancy and joy. As 
the feeling, which, in her sex, always accompanies the security 
of love returned, threw its softness and tenderness over her 
countenance, she was singularly beautiful. Pathfinder gazed 
at her with an intentness he did not endeavor to conceal, and 
then he fairly laughed in his own way, and with a sort of wild 
exultation, as men that are untutored are wont to express their 
delight. This momentary indulgence, however, was expiated 
by the pang that followed the sudden, consciousness that this 
glorious young creature was lost to him forever. It required a 
full minute for this simple-minded being to recover from the 
shock of this conviction; and then he recovered his dignity of 
manner, speaking with gravity — almost with solemnity. 

“ I have always known, Mabel Dunham, that men have 
their gifts,” he said ; “but I’d forgotten that it did not belong 
to mine, to please the young, and beautiful, and I’arned. I 
hope the mistake has been no very heavy sin ; and if it was, 
I’ve been heavily punished for it, I have. Nay, Mabel, I know 
what you’d say, but it’s unnecessary ; I feel h all, and that is 
as good as if I heard it all. I’ve had a bitter hour, Mabel-» 
I’ve had a very bitter hour, lad ” 

“ Hour ! ” echoed Mabel, as the other first used the word, 
the tell-tale blood which had begun to ebb toward her heart 
rushing again tumultuously to her very temples. “ Surely not 
an hour. Pathfinder ? ” 

“ Hour! ” exclaimed Jasper at the same instant — “ no— no 


THE PATHFINDER, 


409 

— my worthy friend, it is not ten minutes since you left 
us ! 

“ Well, it may be so ; though to me it has seemed to be at 
day. I began to think, however, that the happy count time by 
minutes, and the miserable count it by months. But we will 
talk no more of this ; it is all over now, and many words about 
it will make you no happier, while they will only tell me what 
I’ve lost ; and quite likely how much I desarved to lose her. 
No — no — Mabel, ’tis useless to interrupt me ; I admit it all, 
and your gainsaying it, though it be so well meant cannot 
change my mind. Well, Jasper, she is yours ; and though 
it’s hard to think it, I do believe you’ll make her happier than 
I could, for your gifts are better suited to do so, though I 
would have strived hard to do as much, if I knew myself, I 
would. I ought to have known better than to believe the ser- 
geant ; and I ought to have put faith in what Mabel told me 
at the head of the lake, for reason and judgment might have 
shown me its truth : but it is so pleasant to think that we wish, 
and mankind so easily over-persuade us when we over-persuade 
ourselves. But what’s the use in talking of it, as I said afore ? 
It’s true, Mabel seemed to be consenting, though it all came 
from a wish to please her father, and from being skeary about 
the savages ” 

“ Pathfinder ! ” 

“ I understand you, Mabel, and have no hard feelings, I 
hav’n’t. I sometimes think I should like to live in your neigh- 
borhood that I might look at your happiness ; but on the whole 
\t is better I should quit the 55th altogether and go back to 
the 60th, which is my natyve rejiment, as it might be. It 
would have been better, perhaps had I never left, though my 
sarvices were much wanted in this quarter, and I’d been with 
some of the 55th years agone — Sergeant Dunham, for instance, 
when he was in another corps. Still, Jasper, I do not regret 
that I have known you ” 

‘‘ And me. Pathfinder ! ” impetuously interrupted Mabel — 
“ do you regret having known me ? — could I think so I should 
never be at peace with myself ! ” 

“ You, Mabel ! ” returned the guide, taking the hand of our 
heroine, and looking up into her countenance with guileless sim^ 
plicity but earnest affection— “ how could I be sorry that a ray 
of the sun came across the gloom of a cheerless day } that 
light has broken in upon darkness, though it remained so short 
a time I do not flatter myself with being able to march quite 
as light-hearted as I once used to could, or to sleep as sound 
for some time to come : but I shall always remember how near 


THE PATHFINDER. 


410 

I was to being undesarvedly happy, I shall. So far from blam- 
ing you, Mabel, I only blame myself for being so vain as to 
think it possible I could please such a creatur’ ; for, sartainly 
you told me how it was when we talked it over on the moun- 
tain, and I ought to have believed you then ; for I do suppose 
it’s nat’ral that young women should know their own minds 
better than their fathers. Ah’s me ! It’s settled now, and noth* 
ing remains but for me to take leave of you that you may de- 
part ; I feel that Master Cap must be impatient, and there is 
danger of his coming on shore to look for us all.” 

“ To take leave ! ” exclaimed Mabel. 

“ Leave !” echoed Jasper, “you do not mean to quit us, 
my friend ? ” 

“ ’Tis best, Mabel — ’tis altogether best, Eau-douce ; and 
it’s wisest. I could live and die in your company if I only 
followed feeling ; but if I follow reason, I shall quit you here. 
You will go back to Oswego, and become man and wife as 
soon as you arrive ; for all that is determined with Master 
Cap, who hankers after the sea again, and who knows what is 
to happen : while I shall return to the wilderness and my 
Maker. Come, Mabel,”' continued Pathfinder, rising and draw- 
ing nearer to our heroine with grave decorum, “ kiss me. Jaspei 
will not grudge me one kiss : then we’ll part.” 

“ Oh ! Pathfinder,” exclaimed Mabel, falling into the arms 
of the guide and kissing his cheeks again and again, with a 
freedom and warmth she had been far from manifesting while 
held to the bosom of Jasper — “ God bless 5^ou, dearest Path- 
finder ! You will come to us hereafter. We shall see you 
again. When old you will come to our dwelling and let me be 
a daughter to you ? ” 

“ Yes — that’s it,” returned the guide, almost gasping for 
breath ; “ I’ll try to think of it in that way. You’re more befit- 
ting to be my daughter than to be my wife, you are. Farewell, 
Jasper. Now we will go to the canoe ; it’s time you were on 
board.” 

The manner in which Pathfinder led the way to the shore 
was solemn and calm. As soon as he reached the canoe he 
again tookMabel by the hands, held her at the length of his own 
arms, and gazed wistfully into her face until the unbidden tears 
rolled out of the fountains of feeling, and trickled down his 
rugged cheeks in streams. 

“ Bless me. Pathfinder,” said Mabel, kneeling reverently at' 
his feet. “ Oh ! at least bless me before we part.” 

That untutored but noble-minded being did as she desired^ 


THE PATHFINDER, 


41 1 


and, aiding her to enter the canoe, seemed to tear himself 
away as one snaps a strong and obstinate cord. Before he re- 
tired, however, he took Jasper by the arm and led him a little 
aside, when he spoke as follows : 

“You’re kind of heart, and gentle by natur’, Jasper ; but 
we are both rough and wild, in comparison with that dear crea- 
tur’. Be careful of her, and never show the roughness of 
man’s natur’ to her soft disposition. You’ll get to understand 
her in time ; and the Lord who governs the lake and the for- 
est alike — who looks upon virtue with a smile, and upon vice 
with a frown — keep you happy and worthy to be so ! ” 

Pathfinder made a sign for his friends to depart ; and he j 
stood leaning on his rifle until the canoe had reached the side 
of the Scud. Mabel wept as if her heart would break ; noi 
did her eyes once turn from the open spot in the glade, where the 
form of Pathfinder was to be seen, until the cutter had passed 
a point that completely shut out the island. When last in 
view, the sinewy frame of this extraordinary man was as mo- 
tionless as if it were a statue set up in that solitary place to 
commemorate the scenes of which it has so lately been the 
witness. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

“ Oh ! let me only breathe the air, 

The blessed air that’s breathed by thee ; 

And whether on its wings it bear 

Healing or death, ’tis sweet to me I ” 

— Moorb. 

Pathfinder was accustomed to solitude ; but when the 
Scud had actually disappeared he was almost overcome with a 
sense of his loneliness. Never before had he been conscious 
of his isolated condition in the world ; for his feelings had 
gradually been accustoming themselves to the blandishments 
and wants of social life ; particularly as the last were connect- 
ed with the domestic affections. Now, all had vanished, as 
it might be, in one moment ; and he was left equally without com- 
panions, and without hope. Even Chingachgook had left him, 
though it was temporarily ; still, his presence was missed at 
the precise instant which might be termed the most critical m 
our hero’s life. ^ ^ • j j 

Pathfinder stood leaning on his rifle, in the attitude de- 
scribed in the last chapter, a long time after the Scud had dis- 


412 


THE PATHFINDER. 


appeared. The rigidity of his limbs seemed permanent ; and 
none but a man accustomed to put his muscles to the severest 
proof, could have maintained that posture, with its marble-like 
inflexibility, for so great a length of time. At length he moved 
away from the spot ; the motion of the body being - preceded 
by a sigh that seemed to heave up from the very depths of his 
bosom. 

It was a peculiarity of this extraordinary being, that his 
senses and his limbs, for all practical j^urposes, were never at 
fault, let the mind be preoccupied with other interests as much 
as it might. On the present occasion neither of these great 
auxiliaries failed him ; but, though his thoughts were exclusively 
occupied with Mabel, her beauty, her preference of Jasper, her 
tears, and her departure, he moved in a direct line to the spot 
where June still remained, which was the grave of her hus- 
band. The conversation that followed passed in the language 
of the Tuscaroras, which Pathfinder spoke fluently; but, as that 
tongue is understood only by the extremely learned, we shall 
translate it freely into the English ; preserving, as far as pos- 
sible, the tone of thought of each interlocutor, as well as the 
peculiarities of manner. 

June had suffered -her hair to fall about her face, had taken 
a seat on a stone that had been dug from the excavation made 
by the grave, and was hanging over the spot that contained the 
body of Arrowhead, unconscious of the presence of any other. 
She believed, indeed, that all had left the island but herself, 
and the tread of the guide’s moccasined foot was too noiseless 
rudely to undeceive her. 

Pathfinder stood gazing at the woman for several minutes 
in mute attention. The contemplation of her grief, the recol- 
lection of her irreparable loss, and the view of her desolation, 
produced a healthful influence on his own feelings ; his reason 
telling him how, much deeper lay the sources of grief in a young 
wife, who was suddenly and violently deprived of her husband, 
than in himself. 

“ Dew-of-June,” he said, solemnly, but with an earnestness 
that denoted the strength of his sympathy — “you are not alone 
in your sorrow. Turn, and let your eyes look upon a friend.” 

“ June has no longer any friend!” the woman answered; 
“ Arrowhead has gone to the happy hunting-grounds, and there 
is no one left to care for June. The Tuscaroras would chase 
her from their wigwams ; the Iroquois are hateful in her eyes, 
and she could not look at them. No! — leave June to starve 
over the grave of her husband.” 


THE Pathfinder, 


4^3 

“ This will never do — this will never do. ’Tis ag’in reason 
and right. You believe in the Manitou, June t ” 

“ He has hid his face from June^ because he is angry. He 
has left her alone to die.” 

“ Listen to one who has had a long acquaintance with red 
natur’, though he has a white birth and white gifts. When the 
Manitou of a paleface wishes to produce good in a paleface 
heart, he strikes it with grief, for it is in our sorrows, June, that 
we look with the truest eyes into ourselves, and with the farthest 
sighted eyes too, as respects right. The Great Spirit wishes you 
well and he has taken away the chief, lest you should be led 
astray by his wily tongue, and get to be a Mingo in your dis- 
position, as you were already in your company.” 

“ Arrowhead was a great chief ! ” returned the woman 
proudly. 

“ He had his merrits, he had ; and he had his demerits, too. 
But, June, you’re not desarted, nor will you be soon. Let your 
grief out — let it out according to natur’, and when the proper 
time comes, I shall have more to say to you.” 

Pathfinder now went to his own canoe, and he left the 
island. In the course of the day, June heard the crack of his 
rifle once or twice ; and, as the sun was setting, he reappeared, 
bringing her birds ready cooked, and of a delicacy and flavor 
that might have tempted the appetite of an epicure. Th’s 
species of intercourse lasted a month, June obstinately refus- 
ing to abandon the grave of her husband all that time, though 
she. still accepted the friendly offerings of her protector. Oc- 
casionally they met and conversed, Pathfinder sounding the 
State of the woman’s feelings ; but the interviews were short 
and far from frequent. June slept in one of the huts, and she 
laid down her head in security, for she was conscious of the 
protection of a friend, though Pathfinder invariably retired at 
night to an adjacent island, where he had built himself a hut. 

At the end of the month, however, the season was getting 
too far advanced to render her situation pleasant to June. The 
trees had lost their leaves, and the nights were becoming cold 
and wintry. It was time to depart. 

At this moment, Chingachgook re-appeared. ^ He had a long 
and confidential interview on the island, with his friend. June 
witnessed their movements, and she saw that her guardian was 
distressed. Stealing to his side, she endeavored to soothe his 
sorrow, with a woman’s gentleness, and with a woman s in- 
stinct. 

“ I'hank you, June — thank you” — he said — “ tis well meantj 


414 


THE PA THFINDER. 


though it’s useless. But it is time to quit this place. To* 
morrow we shall depart. You will go with us, for now you’ve 
got to feel reason.” 

June assented in the meek manner of an Indian woman, 
and she withdrew to pass the remainder of her time near the 
grave of Arrowhead. Regardless of the hour and the season, 
the young widow did not pillow her head during the whole of 
that autumnal night. She sat near the spot that held the re- 
mains of her husband, and prayed in the manner of her people, 
for his success on the endless path on which he had so lately 
gone, and for their reunion in the land of the just. Humble 
and degraded as she would have seemed in the eyes of the 
sophisticated and unreflecting, the image of God was on her 
soul, and it vindicated its divine origin by aspirations and 
feelings that would have surprised those who, feigning more, 
feel less. 

In the morning the three departed ; Pathfinder earnest and 
intelligent in all he did, the great Serpent silent and imitative, 
and June meek, resigned, but sorrowful. They went in two 
canoes, that of the woman being abandoned. Chingachgook 
led the way and Pathfinder followed, the course being up 
stream. Two days they paddled westward, and as many nights 
they encamped on islands. Fortunately the weather became 
mild, and when they reached the lake it was found smooth and 
glassy as a pond. It was the Indian summer, and the calm 
and almost the blandness of June slept in the hazy atmos- 
phere. 

On the morning of the third day they passed the mouth of 
the Oswego, where the fort and the sleeping ensign invited 
them in vain to enter. Without casting a look aside, Chin- 
gachgook paddled past the dark waters of the river, and Path- 
finder still followed in silent industry. The ramparts were 
crowded with spectators ; but Lundie, who knew the persons 
of his old friends, refused to allow them to be even hailed. 

It was noon when Chingachgook entered a little bay where 
the Scud lay at anchor in a sort of roadstead. A small 
ancient clearing was on the shore, and near the margin of the 
lake was a log dwelling, recently and completely, though rudely 
fitted up. There was an air of frontier comfort and of frontier 
abundance around the place, though it was necessarily wild 
and solitary. Jasper stood on the shore ; and, when Pathfinder 
landed, he was the first to take him by the hand. The meeting 
was simple, but very cordial. No questions were asked, it 
being apparent that Chingachgook had made the necessary ex 


THE PATHFINDER, 


415 

planations. Pathfinder never squeezed his friend’s hand more 
cordially than in this interview ; and even he laughed cordially 
in his face as he told him how happy and well he appeared. 

“ Where is she, Jasper — where is she ? ” the guide at length 
whispered ; for ^t first he had seemed to be afraid to trust him- 
self with the question. 

“ She is waiting for us in the house, my dear friend, where 
you see that June has already hastened before us.” 

“ June may use a lighter step to meet Mabel, but she cannot 
carry a lighter heart. And so, lad, you found the chaplain at 
the garrison, and all was soon settled ? ” 

“ We were married within a week after we left you, and 
Master Cap departed next day — you have forgotten to inquire 
about your friend, Saltwater ” 

“ Not I — not I. The Sarpent has told me all that ; and 
then I love to hear so much of Mabel and her happiness, I do. 
Did the child smile, or did she weep when the ceremony was 
over ? ” 

“ She did both, my friend ; but ” 

“ Yes, that’s their natur’ ; tearful and cheerful. Ah’s me ! 
they are pleasant to us of the woods ; and I do believe I shall 
think all right, whatever Mabel might do. And do you think, 
Jasper, that she thought of me at all, on that joyful occasion 

“ I know she did. Pathfinder, and she thinks of you and 
talks of you daily — almost hourly. None love you as we do ! ” 

“I know few love me better than yourself, Jasper. CHin- 
gachgook is, perhaps, now the only creatur’ of whom I can say 
that. Well, there’s no use in putting it off any longer; it must 
be done and may as well be doneat once ; so, Jasper, lead the 
way, and I’ll endivor to look upon her sweet countenance once 
more.” 

Jasper did lead the way, and they were soon in the presence 
of Mabel. The latter. met her late suitor with a bright blush, 
and her limbs trembled so she could hardly stand. Still her 
manner was affectionate and frank. During the hour of Path- 
finder’s visit, for it lasted no longer , though he ate in the dwell- 
ing of his friends, one who was expert in tracing the workings 
of the human mind might have seen a faithful index to the 
feelings of Mabel, in her manner to Pathfinder and her husband. 
With the latter she still had a little of the reserve that usually 
accompanies young wedlock ; but the tones of her voice were 
kinder even than common ; the glance of her eye was tender, 
and she seldom looked at him without the glow that tinged her 
cheeks betraying the existence of feelings that habit and time 


THE PATHFmDER. 


4i« 

had not yet soothed into absolute tranquillity. With Pathfinder 
all was earnest, sincere — even anxious; but the tones nevef 
trembled, the eye never fell, and, if the cheek flushed, it was 
with the emotions that are connected with concern. 

At length the moment came when Pathfinder must go his 
way. Chingachgook had already abandoned the canoes, and 
was posted on the margin of the woods, where a path led into 
the forest. Here he calmly waited to be joined by his friend. 
As soon as the latter was aware of this fact, he rose in a solemn 
manner, and took his leave. 

“ I’ve sometimes thought that my own fate has been a little 
hard,” he said ; ‘‘ but that of this woman, Mabel, has shamed 
me into reason ” 

“ June remains and lives with me,” eagerly interrupted our 
heroine. 

“ So I comprehend it. If anybody can bring her back 
from her grief, and make her wish to live, you can do it, Mabel, 
though I’ve misgivings about even your success. The poor 
creatur’ is without a tribe as well as without a husband, and 
it’s not easy to reconcile the feelings to both losses. Ah’s me ! 
— what have I to do with other people’s miseries and marriages, 
as if I hadn’t affliction enough of my own ? Don’t speak to 
me, Mabel — don’t speak to me, Jasper — let me go my way in 
peace, and like a man. I’ve seen your happiness, and that is 
a great deal, and I shall be able to bear my own sorrow all the 
better for it. No — I’ll never kiss you ag’in, Mabel, I’Jl never 
kiss you ag’in. Here’s my hand, Jasper — squeeze it, boy, 
squeeze it ; no fear of its giving way, for it is the hand of a 
man — and now, Mabel, do you take it — nay, you must not do 
this ” — preventing Mabel from kissing it, and bathing it with 
her tears — “ you must not do this.” 

“ Pathfinder,” asked Mabel, “ when shall we see you 
again ? ” 

“ I’ve thought of that, too ; yes, I’ve thought of that, I have. 
If the time should ever come when I can look upon you alto 
gether as a sister, Mabel, or a child — it might be better to say 
d child, since you’re young enough to be my daughter — depend 
on it. I’ll come back ; for it would lighten my very heart to 
w itness your gladness. But if I cannot — farewell — farewell— 
e sergeant was wrong — yes, the sergeant was wrong? ” 

This was the last the Pathfinder ever uttered to the ears of 
Jasper Western and Mabel Dunham. He turned away, as if 
the words choked him, and was quickly at the side of his friend. 
As soon as the latter saw him approach, he shouldered hi* 


THE PATHFINDER. 


417 

own burden, a*id glided in among the trees without waiting to be 
spoken to. Mabel, her husband, and June, all watched the 
form of the Pathfinder, in the hope of receiving a parting gest- 
ure, or a stolen glance of the eye ; but he did not look back. 
Once or twice they thought they saw his head shake, as one 
trembles in bitterness of spirit ; and a toss of the hand was given, 
as if he knew that he was watched ; but a tread whose vigor no 
sorrow could enfeP'ble soon bore him out of view, and he was 
lost in the depths "^f the forest. 

Neither Jasper nor his wife ever beheld the Pathfinder 
again. They remained for another year on the banks of On- 
tario ; and then the pressing solicitations of Cap induced them 
to join him in New York, where Jasper eventually became a 
successful and respected merchant. Thrice Mabel received 
valuable presents of furs, at intervals of years ; and her feelings 
told her whence they came, though no name accompanied the 
gift. Later in life still, when the mother of several youths, she 
had occasion to visit the interior, and found herself on the 
banks of the Mohawk, accompanied by her sons, the eldest of 
whom was capable of being her protector. On that occasion 
she observed a man in a singular disguise, watching her in the 
distance, with an intentness that induced her to inquire into his 
pursuits and character. She was told he was the most renown- 
ed hunter of that portion of the State — it was after the Revolu- 
tion — a being of great purity of character, and of as marked 
peculiarities ; and that he was known in that region of country 
by the name of the Leather-stocking. Further than this Mrs. 
Western could not ascertain ; though the distant glimpse and 
singular deportment of the unknown hunter gave her a sleepless 
night, and cast a shade of melancholy over her still lovely face, 
that lasted many a day. 

As for June, the double loss of husband and tribe produced 
the effect that Pathfinder had foreseen. She died in the cottage 
of Mabel, on the shore of the lake ; and Jasper conveved her 
body to the island, where he interred it by the side of that of 
Arrowhead. 

Lundie lived to marry his ancient love, and retired, a war- 
worn and battered veteran ; but his name has been rendered 
illustrious in our own time by the deeds of a younger brother, 
who succeeded to his territorial title, which, however, was 
shortly after merged in one earned by his valor on the ocean. 


THE END. 


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UBRARY OF CX)NGRESS 




